Stargate: Generations
by Frodo'sPen
Summary: For the O'Neills, the Stargate Program was more than a job. Follow Jack O'Neill's niece and nephew as their own adventure intertwines with SG-1's.
1. The Ties That Broke

_**Stargate: Generations**_

**Summary:** For the O'Neills, the Stargate Program was more than a job. Follow Jack O'Neill's niece and nephew as their own adventure intertwines with SG-1's. See the author's note at the end for additional details.

**Genre:** Adventure/Romance

**Rating:** T

Chapter 1: The Ties That Broke

_Set early in Season 1, independent of any episode._

"Sergeant, shut it down."

SG-1 turned in surprise. They hadn't even made it to the ramp. General Hammond's mouth set in a grim line as he leaned over the microphone.

"Colonel O'Neill, report to my office."

As O'Neill squinted up at the control room, Daniel stepped up behind him to say over his shoulder, "What did you do now?"

_SG-1_

"Shut the door and sit down, Colonel."

O'Neill hadn't even set aside his gear. Warily he moved his P-90 to the side so he could take the offered chair.

"What's going on, sir?"

Hammond took a deep breath. "I've just had a call from a Mr. Adams, your brother's lawyer. He's been trying to reach you for days."

"Sir?"

"I'm sorry, Jack. Your brother and his wife were killed in a car crash Monday morning."

_SG-1_

"Is that Russian?"

Dany O'Neill dropped the lid of the music box. It landed with a sharp thud, the lullaby – if you didn't speak Russian and couldn't understand it was anything _but_ – ending with a soft metallic _ping_. She didn't turn and face her boyfriend, and he, denying the end in the room, prattled on.

"Look, I know this has been hard on you…"

He'd been saying that kind of thing a lot, and Dany was starting to find it grating. _Hard on you_? Her parents had _died_, for crying out loud. _Hard_ did not apply. Of course, it wasn't the first death in her lifetime, but Jeff didn't know about Charlie.

"It's over, Jeff," Dany said, cutting him off. "We're over." As cold swept the room, she relished the way he froze mid-sentence, an echo of her own pain. She was ready to be rid of him. They'd have broken up in the spring, anyway.

"Dany?" He was trying to be shocked, his voice cracking like a bad radio signal.

Feeling a headache coming, Dany pinched the bridge of her nose. Still she didn't turn. Her voice, as it shuffled from her to Jeff, pounded in her own ears. "It was never going to last through next year. Now I have to go live with my Uncle Jack…"

Jeff snorted, and Dany remembered for a second why she'd liked him in the first place. "Your Uncle Jack…Who you haven't seen in ten years…"

Dany hadn't actually heard the shot that had killed Charlie, but she always felt the bang when it was mentioned. She flinched now. "Yeah. That Uncle Jack…"

_SG-1_

Mr. Adams had arranged everything, with Dan's help. Dany had predictably checked out after the crash, then vanished altogether after the internment, which left Dan to shake hands and accept condolences from people neither of them would ever see again, all the while brushing off Mr. Adams' inquiries about the whereabouts of his twin sister.

"She's fine."

"How do you _know_?"

"He always knows." And there was Uncle Jack, looking somewhat worse for the wear. All Dan's pretension at good humor vanished. He shook the older man's hand as though he were another Mr. Adams.

"Should someone look for her?" The lawyer pressed on.

Dan shook his head.

_SG-1_

The packing was a simple matter. Mr. Adams took care of that too. Dan supposed he should really be thanking his parents for arranging their death so nicely, but he couldn't really be grateful when they'd left him so recently. He packed what he needed – and a few things Dany would only pretend she'd never miss – into two duffle bags.

Dany never reappeared. Yet somehow the next morning she was waiting at the front door with her own luggage and an expression that read _don't ask me any questions_ in all of the five extra languages she spoke. And then they were all three on the way to Colorado Springs.

_SG-1_

O'Neill had never thought he'd find Daniel's voice calming, but the hesitant "Jack?" penetrating the silence of the house was beyond welcome. He met the archeologist in the front hall, grateful he'd taken the hint and come alone, and relieved him of the pizza boxes.

"Nice. C'mon in."

Daniel followed O'Neill into the dining room, which to his knowledge had never been used, as the Colonel barked down the hall for his niece and nephew. Dan lumbered in with all the grace of lanky Irish teenager, and Dany trailed behind him.

"Dan, Dany, Daniel," O'Neill said with a series of corresponding nods. All three raised their eyebrows at him. "This is gonna get old fast."

Blinking rapidly, Daniel held out his hand to the boy. "I'm Dr. Daniel Jackson. I work with your uncle."

"Dan. This is my sister, Dany."

"Their mother had an interesting sense of humor, "O'Neill said, earning himself a glare from the girl, which he ignored. "They're twins."

"Ah," said Daniel.

"You're a military doctor?" Dan asked as O'Neill moved to the kitchen in search of paper plates he knew weren't there.

"Uh, no. I'm an archeologist."

"On an Air Force base? In Colorado?" Dany looked skeptical.

"Yeah…I guess that's a bit odd…What about you? You must be thinking about colleges?"

Dan rolled his eyes in the direction of the shuffling in the kitchen. "Oh, that's next year. Engineering Physics for me. Haven't decided where yet."

"Should probably get on that," Dany mumbled at him.

Dan half-smiled at his sister. "Dany's going to Princeton."

Daniel's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. "Princeton? That's-that's great! What will you study?"

"Linguistics."

"Really?"

"Dany speaks Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, and a little Japanese," Dan explained with a display of brotherly pride Daniel found odd in a teenager. But then, he hadn't had siblings, let alone a twin.

"Okay," said O'Neill, reappearing with a giant white wad. "I couldn't find paper plates, but we've got _lots_ of paper towels."

"It's your table," Dan said with a shrug.

"Good enough, then. Let's eat."

The four pulled out chairs as O'Neill divided the wad between them. Daniel was still staring sporadically at Dany.

"That's a lot of languages for a high school student."

The girl shrugged and bit into her pizza. "Always something I've been good at," she said around a mouthful of mozzarella.

"How so?"

Unsure whether or not to be annoyed, Dany swallowed and tried to explain. "Languages just make sense to me. They follow patterns. Once you know the pattern…" She ended with a shrug O'Neill was beginning to realize was a family characteristic and took another bite.

O'Neill look at Daniel.

"We were just discussing Princeton."

"Princeton, you say?"

Dany nodded. "Assuming we can still afford it…"

O'Neill set down his slice of pizza and rubbed his hands together rapidly to clean them. "Listen, both of you. That's one thing you don't need to worry about. Your parents set all that up."

The tension Daniel had failed to break returned full force.

**AN:** It always weirds me out that characters never have the same name. I have trouble telling true stories, because half the guys I know are named Matt. So, to insert some real world confusion into the mix, I give you Dan and Dany, even though we already have Daniel.

This is part family drama, part romance. I tried posting it before, but lacked the time to give it the attention I thought it deserved. Merry Christmas to me, I'm making the time now.

I will do my best to respond to reviews individually.


	2. Have a Holly, Jolly Break In

Chapter 2: Have a Holly, Jolly Break In

_Set early in Season 1, Christmastime._

Uncle Jack was gone again. He was gone often. To their relief, the twins had found that living with their estranged uncle wasn't much different that not living with him, except that there had been beer in the house until he had realized they were drinking it.

It was Christmas Eve. In the absence of any real familial plans, Dan had dragged Dany to a tree farm and sent an email to Mr. Adams, who had obliged by overnighting a particular box from among their parents' things. Presumably, the lawyer still felt sorry for the twins. The house had been decorated with a week to spare.

Uncle Jack had come home, raised his eyebrows, and asked if there were cookies.

Now it was early midnight. Dan was passed out on the couch, his softly-snoring form sporadically lit by a stop-motion animation Christmas special. Dany was restless, trying to figure out if Uncle Jack had actually removed the beer from the premises, or if he had only hidden it somewhere.

Then she remembered the liquor cabinet.

It was locked. Of course it was. And the desk drawer where she knew Uncle Jack kept the key was locked as well. Dany frowned at the keyhole. Despite all appearances, her uncle learned fast.

Well, so did she. The wood splintered under the crowbar, and Dany wondered just what she was in for when it was discovered. Then again, it was a _desk_. Uncle Jack might not go near it for months.

Sliding the door open fully, Dany reached for the set of keys that lay atop the mess of paperwork, then froze.

Atop the mess was a file, one marked "TOP SECRET" in large, red letters.

_SG-1_

Dany never made it to the liquor cabinet. She turned off the TV, covered Dan with a blanket, and a single lamp on in the dining room.

The papers in front of her were a report by a Major Kawalsky. There were a lot of names in it she didn't recognize, and a lot of physics she didn't understand. (Neither, it seemed, did Major Kawalsky.) But Dany got the gist. She read it three times, each time more convinced it was a joke, before remembering that her father had said most of Uncle Jack's work was classified, which explained a lot of absences before she had understood what absence was.

Before Uncle Jack had disappeared from their lives for good.

She looked at the date on the file. It wasn't much older than a year. So Uncle Jack hadn't spent all of the past ten years fighting aliens. If that was really what he was doing. Dany was pretty sure even her dad would have found that hard to swallow.

Uncle Jack returned around 3am, Dany supposed in some attempt to observe the holiday. She heard his keys hit the table by the door, his steps towards the unexpected light. He paused under the archway leading into the dining room, her eyes taking in her expression and the scattered paperwork.

"Oh, I wish I'd kept that beer…"

Dany wanted to say something scathing, but all that came out was, "Is this for real?"

Uncle Jack sighed. "I can't talk like this. Follow me."

Fifteen minutes later, they were in the backyard wrapped in surplus coats and hoodies that read "United States Air Force," a bonfire roaring in front of them. As he sat down, Uncle Jack passed Dany a mug.

"Scotch?" she asked hopefully.

"_Coffee_." He took a sip from his own mug, which Dany was pretty sure was at least partly something else. She was less sure that coffee was such a good idea when she was already wound up, but she drank it anyway.

"If you weren't family, I could have you shot for reading that file," Uncle Jack began.

So it was true.

"Dany…I'm not really good at this sort of thing. Luckily for you and your brother, you won't need me in a couple of months. Not that you _really_ need me now, but legally…"

"So that's it then." Dany glared at him. "You're putting up with us until you don't have to feel responsible anymore. And then you can go back to-" She waved her hand vaguely at the sky.

"Hey! I don't remember you saying anything about being thrilled to be here. In fact, you've made it pretty clear you'd rather be anywhere _but_. I thought you wanted-"

"Wanted? _Wanted?_" Dany started to sputter something else and failed. She_ wanted_ to throw something at him. Instead she turned to glower at the fire.

"I'm sorry, Dany." It was only moments later, but it felt like hours. "I'm sorry about your parents. I'm sorry about Charlie. I'm sorry about all of it." They were only a few words, four short sentences, but they seemed to take an eternity for him to say.

She closed her eyes, feeling the rebellion inside of her fizzle out. She was suddenly very tired. Setting aside her coffee cup, she drew her knees up to her chest and buried her face in her arms. She was freezing, save her shins, which felt like they had a bad sunburn.

"You were gone a long time," she mumbled, surprised and annoyed to find her voice was that of an eight-year old who missed playing catch with her uncle.

"I know. Dany, if you read that file, you know that I…"

"I know." And she did know, because Charlie's death had been impossible for all of them, and because she had disappeared during her parents' wake. If it weren't for Dan…She looked up.

"What happened to Aunt Sara?" she asked, grasping at a question with a solid answer.

Uncle Jack sighed. "I saw her not long ago. Just before your parents died, in fact. We…we talked things out. But ultimately we decided it was better for both of us to go our separate ways."

Dany nodded. The fire crackled in front of them, holding steady. It was an easy place to rest her eyes.

"I also saw your dad."

She turned to her uncle in surprise.

"About six months ago. We went fishing."

She remembered the weekend. A solitary fishing trip, her father had said. "He didn't tell us."

"No, he wasn't sure he should. Though I imagine eventually…" Uncle Jack looked down at his hands. "He told me you and your brother are smart. _Really_ smart. Now I _know_ you didn't get that from our side of the family."

Dany half smiled. "If Mom hadn't wanted to be a mom so bad."

"She was a good mom."

"Yeah."

"He said Dan is a lot like her."

"And he said I'm a lot like you."

"Yes." Uncle Jack looked at her in surprise, and she pillowed her head on her arms as she returned his gaze.

"He said that a lot."

"Oh. Well, assuming he was right – and he usually was about that sort of thing – you might want to reconsider Princeton."

Now it was her turn to be surprised. "You want me to join the _Air Force_?"

"It's not about what I want. I just think…What helped me in the end was having something to do, something…bigger than myself. It might help you too."

She didn't answer, unsure whether or not she was ready to wrap her mind around what it was Uncle Jack did. As hard as this conversation had been, she imagined that would be even harder.

"And, Dany? It doesn't get much bigger than what I do."

There was a snap, behind them this time, and they both turned to find Dan standing there, blinking blearily in the firelight.

"Wa's goin' on?"


	3. Several Campfires Later

Chapter 4: Several Campfires Later

_Several years later…Set in Season 5 following the events of "Last Stand."_

It had been a joke, if everyone was honest, and Dany was the first to admit that "service" looked nothing like the brochure.

It was, however, everything Uncle Jack had said it would be. As he handed her the first glass of Scotch, she felt her delusions burn up in the fire in front of her.

"I'm glad you're okay."

She was many things. "Okay" was not one of them. But she accepted the Scotch.

"We'll find him," he said. "We found Skaara."

"But not Sha're," she said, trying not to feel the words.

"No," he replied. Dany had learned to appreciate that about her uncle. No bullshit.

"We'll find him," he said again.

"Yes, sir," she replied automatically.

"Stop that."

And since it had been bothering her a long time and was a distraction, she asked, "Uncle Jack, where's the line?"

"You'll know when the time comes."

Ignoring the cliché, Dany closed her eyes and allowed herself to remember, just for a moment, because if Uncle Jack had taught her anything it was how to be a fighter, and she couldn't fight this without remembering it.

Had it been a bomb? It must have been. Those details didn't stand out as much as the confusion and the headache when she woke up. Dan must have pushed her out of the way. Out of _sight_. She'd stumbled along the wreck that had once been Tok'ra tunnels. It was only when she'd caught up with the others that she realized she'd left Dan behind. And he hadn't been the only one…

"You and Elliot were close, huh?" Uncle Jack asked in his uncle voice, which Dany was pretty sure no one else knew existed.

She shot him her best don't-ask-don't-tell glare, which he accepted with a nod. Maybe losing Dan was bad enough. Admitting that she might have had more- than-best-friend feelings for her best friend, whom they had _definitely_ lost, was something else. Something she wasn't ready to do. At least not out loud.

There was a stirring that wasn't the wind, and Daniel joined them. She hadn't heard his car. His face was made more grim by the firelight as he settled next to them.

"We heard from Jacob," he said without preamble. "He said that their spies have located Dan." Uncle Jack and Dany both sat up a little straighter. "But they can't get to him." Daniel hesitated before going on. When he did, he looked directly at Dany. "They also confirmed what they already suspected. He's been taken as a host."

Something broke off and went_ thump_ in the back of her mind, while next to it something else danced, _he's alive!_

"Major Davis is on his way from the Pentagon to help with damage control. All of our standard pass codes, our mission schedule – everything's being changed. Fortunately, this was Dan's first mission. The Goa'uld won't have learned much they didn't already know."

_He knew enough_, Dany thought, and stared into the fire again wondering when her personal losses had become matters of national – no, _global_ – security. She was speaking the answer aloud even as it came to her,

"It's my fault."

Daniel wrapped an unhelpful arm around her, but at least she was warmer. "No. It's not. No more than what happened to Sha're was my fault, or what happened to Lieutenant Elliot was General Hammond's fault."

"Dany," Uncle Jack said softly. "This is what we _do_."

She looked at him. "That's just it, isn't it? He'd never have been out there if it wasn't for me, never have joined the Air Force if I hadn't wanted to...I made decisions, he followed."

It was a long moment before Daniel said, "But that was still his choice."

"We'll get him back," Uncle Jack said.

Dany rested her head on Daniel's shoulder, determined to believe him.

**AN:** I will gloss over chapters that take place during _SG-1_ episodes, assuming you are already familiar with the events. If you are confused at any point, just ask. I'll be happy to clarify, and even edit if necessary. I just don't want to rehash what everyone already knows.


	4. Worst Case Scenario

Chapter 5: Worst Case Scenario

_Set during the Season 5 episode "Fail Safe."_

If the botched tour of Revanna hadn't been her first mission, Dany might have had an easier time. The death of the rest of her team left her without an assignment, and even when that team was reassembled, her name wasn't on the list.

Nothing in basic training or at the Air Force Academy could have prepared her for the daily horror of having people walk on eggshells around her. Despite having been in that position before, she had never expected it of the military. These people were supposed to be used to death and loss.

In another life, one without training, Dany would have said, "Screw you all" and left, but that wasn't an option at the SGC. She was an officer now, and expected to act professional, regardless of the slip in the manners of those around her. So she played the part of the soldier. The soldier with nothing to do.

She had just worked up enough cabin fever to complain when they got the eleven-days-to-the-end-of-the-world warning, and she was being summoned to General Hammond's office anyway.

"Lieutenant, this is Major Davis, our liaison from the Pentagon. Major, Dany O'Neill."

"Sir."

He nodded at her.

"Major Davis is coordinating the evacuation to the Alpha site. I want you to assist him here, then report there with the last group."

"Sir?"

Hammond selected a single, folded piece of paper off his desk and handed it to her. "Colonel O'Neill left this for you. He'll be in command of the Alpha site if his mission fails. Until then, you take your orders from Major Davis."

Dany opened the note.

_Your standing orders are to find your brother._

She crumpled the paper, but shoved it in her pocket nonetheless. "If he makes it back, I'm going to throw him through a window."

Hammond chuckled. "I hope you get the opportunity. Major." He nodded at Davis before leaving.

"I understand you've been working with Dr. Jackson," Davis said quickly.

"Yes, sir."

"I also understand that his research can be…unorganized."

Dany almost smiled. "I've more or less figured out his system, sir."

"Good. Go through everything. Grab anything you think we'll need out there. Box it and bring it to the embarkation room."

As he brushed past her, Dany felt lighter than she had in days and wondered how it was possible to be relieved when one was preparing for the end of the world.

_SG-1_

She'd been studying with Daniel – off the record, of course – for years, and was nearly as fluent in Goa'uld as he was. She gathered up those books first, along with all his notes on the Four Races and "meaning of life stuff." Then she rounded up every dictionary she could find.

By the time she was done, three quarters of Daniel's office was empty, and what remained was mostly souvenirs and personal effects. Major Davis appeared to check in on her and raised his eyebrows at the nearly empty office. Dany shrugged.

"We have no idea what we'll run into out there, sir."

Being a worst case scenario sort of person, Davis nodded. "Get this to the gate, then go help Sergeant Siler in Major Carter's lab."

This took a significantly longer. Dany had to ask Siler what a great deal of it _was_, and most of it was over his head as well.

A couple of days later, she sprinted to the control room to find Major Davis rubbing his eyelids. "All finished, sir. At least, as far as we can tell."

General Hammond appeared beside her. "Dany," he said kindly, "why don't you go get some rest?"

"I'm fine, sir," she protested, immediately realizing this could be considered insubordinate.

But Major Davis looked at her and said, "Everything else is being taken care of. Go check on Fraiser for me. Don't stay. I just want an update."

And then she was running messages, endless messages. As she went about the major's business, she translated the messages into Chinese, Russian, Goa'uld, whatever she could think of, to remember them and to keep her mind off her uncle.

She never could figure out why the president and joint chiefs were still in Washington. When she asked Major Davis, he rattled off something about the best and brightest and limited resources. She didn't ask him how he felt about being in charge.

He was the one who told her, in clipped tones, that her uncle and his team had likely perished before their mission could be completed. She didn't_ feel_ the news, just the cold settling in her neck, which she suddenly realized was very tight.

General Hammond laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, glaring at Davis, but the major ignored him and said, "Get geared up, Lieutenant, then report back here."

It didn't occur to her until the last possible second that Davis being in charge meant General Hammond wasn't going with them, and then there was no time for it to sink in. Davis was running, his hand on her back propelling her ahead of him, and she had to remember to grab his gear from the desk she'd laid it on. It occurred to her then that this was what chain of command meant, putting people ahead of you even as they remembered all the little things you'd forgotten. Then they were through the gate at the Alpha site, and there were a million things to do.

The Alpha site had been a well-oiled machine even pre-Davis. Dany was surprised to learn that the rickety shed they'd dumped Daniel's things in was now her office, and she was expected to take over most of his duties. But she hadn't been relieved of her assignment as Major Davis's assistant, so when there was absolutely no more organizing she could do, she brought him a cup of terrible coffee.

It took Davis, who was as exhausted as anyone, a moment to process the steaming mug in front of him. "Thank you, Lieutenant," he said gratefully, gulping half of it down and wincing. He indicated the chair in front of his desk, and Dany took a seat.

She didn't ask if there had been any word, and he didn't offer up the information. "Are you all set up?" he asked instead.

She nodded.

"We'll all have other things to do, of course," he said, "but I do expect you to take over Dr. Jackson's research. I read your file. You're more than qualified."

When, more than two minutes later, she finally said, "thank you, sir," they both knew it had nothing to do with his assessment of her skills.

She didn't expect him to ask her outright, "For what?"

"Not treating me like I'm the only person who's lost a planet."

Davis grimaced. "Lieutenant, I know-"

They were interrupted by Sergeant Harriman, who rushed in to announce an incoming wormhole.

_SG-1_

Four days later, Major Davis had finished debriefing with General Hammond.

"Was there something else, Major?"

"Yes, sir. I was wondering if Lieutenant O'Neill has been assigned to an SG unit yet."

Hammond sighed. "No. In fact, I'm having serious doubts. After the loss of Lieutenant Elliott and her brother, I'm not sure I should be putting her in the field."

"With all due respect, sir, I think that's a mistake."

Hammond waited.

"She's more than capable of carrying herself through a tough situation, and more ready to follow orders than – again, with all due respect, I would have expected of someone related to Colonel O'Neill."

Hammond smiled. "That's a fair assessment. I'll keep it in mind."

Davis hesitated.

"Was there something else." This time it wasn't a question.

"Sir, I could still use an assistant. As the Stargate Program expands…"

"Major, not to put too fine a point on this, but much of your work is political. O'Neills aren't exactly known for their political maneuverability, and I've had more than one person tell me Dany reminds them strikingly of her uncle."

"Yes, sir. But when constantly surrounded by politicians, if you'll excuse my language, sir, it helps to have someone in the room who's not completely full of shit."

This time Hammond laughed outright. "Then you've definitely picked the right person."

_SG-1_

Dany was in Daniel's lab trying to explain "what the hell she'd done with his journals," while Uncle Jack fiddled with various items that Daniel kept retrieving from him with mounting frustration.

"I had the Asgard rune translations over here…"

"Now filed with everything else from the Four Races."

"…Which were originally with my Norse dictionary…"

"_No_, they were under your copy of _Beowulf_."

Daniel glared at her. Carter ducked her head to hide a smile as the phone rang.

"Dr. Jackson's House of Horrors," O'Neill answered, squinting at a shrunken head. "Understood, sir." He hung up. "Dany, Hammond wants you in his office."

_SG-1_

"You wanted to see me, sir?"

Uncle Jack trailed in behind her.

"Have a seat, Lieutenant."

She obeyed, but Uncle Jack took up a position by the door.

"As the Stargate Program expands, Major Davis's role as liaison continues to become more vital. It would be useful for him to have a full time assistant, particularly someone who already understands how we do things here at the SGC." Hammond gave Davis a significant look, which Dany couldn't translate. "To that end, I'm extending your assignment as that assistant."

She looked at Davis, then back at General Hammond.

"General." Her uncle's voice resounded behind her. "That's not the sort of thing SGC personnel are usually recruited for."

"I realize it's not as glamorous as being assigned to an SG unit," General Hammond said, directing his attention at Dany. "But Major Davis has personally requested you."

Now Dany really did look at Davis.

"You did well the last couple of weeks, Lieutenant, really well. I'd like your continued help."

And, somehow, she managed to smile before saying, "Yes, sir."

"Well," said Uncle Jack, "I think this calls for a celebration."

"You're both dismissed," said General Hammond.

Major Davis nodded at Dany. "I'll see you Monday."

As they left the conference room, Uncle Jack put his arm around Dany in a very unmilitary display of affection. "There's a local pub with a great beer selection…"

"You know," Dany said, "when some people celebrate, they consume actual food."


	5. Trust Part I

Chapter 5: Trust Part I

_Set in Season 5._

"Chinese or pizza?"

"How do you make weight?"

Dany heard the pause on her uncle's face before he answered, "I spend a lot of time offworld. Sea rations."

"Don't you mean 'space rations'?"

Again, the pause. "Yeah."

Dany snorted, then padded her way to the living room, carefully balancing two well-poured glasses of Guinness. "Chinese. For tonight. Remember I'll be spending at least this part of my career behind a desk."

O'Neill accepted his glass with a grace and inattention that belied his sharp gaze. "Yes. Washington, eh?"

"Uh, no."

"No?"

They took seats on the deck, then stood again long enough to drag a bench over. They propped their feet on that.

"I'll have two offices. One at the SGC. Makes emergency communication easier."

"You can get yelled at here, while Davis gets yelled at there."

"Exactly."

A third pause, this one impregnated with the awkwardness an older, wiser Dany had thought they'd gotten over.

"Getting an apartment?"

"In Washington."

"Ahh."

_SG-1_

Waiting in her office in Washington were an occupied fish tank, a fishing pole from a childhood board game, and a battered copy of _The Color of Magic_. The book had been her father's, no doubt dug up by Mr. Adams upon request. The other objects were a reminder of a different sort. She moved them to a safe corner of her already cluttered desk and stuffed the book next to her Latin dictionary.

There was a cough by the door, and Dany looked up to see her new boss as uncomfortable as to be expected under circumstances not involving the end of the world.

"Settling in?"

Small talk. She wasn't going to play this game. She raised an eyebrow.

"Right. Listen, since it's your first day, I thought you might want to spend it catching up on mission reports."

"You mean the reports I've been reading at the SGC these past few weeks?"

Davis's shock settled quickly into mild irritation.

"Sir."

The corner of his mouth twitched upwards. "I have a handful of reports from the Russian Stargate program that need translating."

"Yes, sir."

_SG-1_

She had been told any number of times that she reminded people of her uncle, which she could never understand. For one thing, Jack O'Neill could never have handled the amount of deskwork she did that first week.

He liked _The Simpsons_, she liked_ Friends_. He fished, she read. He studied basic astronomy. She studied complex linguistic patterns. But they both liked good Scotch.

Yet that reputation had proceeded her even to Washington. On her second day there, Senator Kinsey stuck his head in her office. Shaking it slightly, he shut her door behind him.

Dany had never had much patience for politics. Still, she recognized him immediately by his demeanor and felt her spine stiffen.

"Lieutenant O'Neill," he said by way of greeting, extending a hand. She didn't take it. "I'm Senator Kinsey, a friend of your uncle's."

"I'm sorry, sir. I'm a communications officer," she replied. "You should be careful about your terminology."

His smile disappeared abruptly. "You're in D.C. now, young lady, not Colorado Springs. The…looseness with which General Hammond runs his command will not be tolerated here. And you should choose your friends with care."

As he spoke the last bit, the door behind him opened. Dany was opening her mouth with a response tailored to start an Irish bar fight when her new boss cut her off.

"Good evening, Senator. You are quite correct that the lieutenant is new to this place, which is why, as her commanding officer, I'll be supervising her behavior – and choosing her _friends_ – with care. I'm sure you'll understand, she is my responsibility."

Resisting the urge to growl in response to this obvious overstep of boundaries, Dany settled for glaring at the floor.

"Of course, Major," Kinsey said. "I just wanted to make sure the O'Neills didn't think they were gaining a _foothold_ here in Washington."

The emphasis was not lost on either of them.

"I assure you that is not the case," Davis said calmly. Dany could see a vein in his neck twitching.

"Hmm," was Kinsey's only reply. With a last sour glance in Dany's direction, he let himself out. Davis closed the door behind him.

"Take a seat, Lieutenant."

Dany sat at her desk, her new boss taking the chair opposite.

"That man has an annoying habit of getting under people's skin," he said, meeting her gaze. "Especially well-meaning people trying to do their jobs and serve their country."

Dany raised her eyebrows. "Ya think?"

"You were pretty close to cracking there, Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir."

"Don't let him push you that far again."

"Sir," she said after a moment. "He's going to make your job very difficult as long as you keep me here."

Davis snorted softly. "I'm aware of that."

"I'm not sure it's worth-"

"I am. If for no other reason than what the senator is afraid of. You have a better understanding of and better relationship with the SGC than anyone else currently in Washington. I'm sure General Hammond would agree, I need that perspective if I'm going to do my job effectively."

Dany was thoughtful a moment. "What if Kinsey uses the…nepotism of the situation against the SGC in future? It could be argued that my perspective isn't just unique, it's also biased."

"It could, but I like to think the same could not be said of me." Davis nodded at the paperwork on her desk. "Finish your translations, Lieutenant, and watch your temper." She started to protest, but a sharp look silenced her. "Let me worry about Kinsey." He stood, and she followed suit out of decorum.

At the door, Davis turned back to her, his hand resting on the handle. "Perhaps I am a little biased. I have a lot of respect for your uncle. It's one of the reasons I hired you. However, Kinsey doesn't need to know that. Now you have something you can use to the SGC's advantage."

She smiled. "Yes, sir."

"One more thing. This working relationship isn't going to work unless you trust me. I'm not always going to see things your way, but this job is about having_ everyone's_ best interests in mind. Now that's your job too."

_SG-1_

A month later, Dany got the call. She ran for her boss's office.

"Sir."

Davis looking up, brow knitting together.

"Dr. Jackson is dying."

He made the travel arrangements without argument, though she was abandoning him before a string of important meetings. He'd managed without her before, he said.

But by the time Dany's plane landed in Colorado Springs, it was already too late.


	6. Liaison

Chapter 6: Liaison

_Set at the end of Season 5 and the beginning of Season 6, specifically during "Redemption Parts I & II."_

Daniel had left his office in its usual state of disarray. General Hammond's orders were to organize it for whoever would be replacing him. Dany felt this somewhat sacrilegious, which no doubt the general understood, because he had put a hand on her shoulder and said, "It's a testament to his work that everything, down to the last Post-It note, is to be preserved. But his replacement will need to be able to find it all. As for his personal effects, I believe he would have entrusted their removal to you, especially with Colonel O'Neill off base."

Dany had nodded, knowing it had been a hopeless argument from the start.

"He left a letter for you, dictated to Dr. Fraiser. It's in an envelope on his desk."

An hour later Dany was still staring at that sheet of paper. She couldn't seem to see anything else in the room.

There was a cough, and she looked up blinking. A young man stood in the doorway, casually dressed in standard fatigues, but with a demeanor more penitent than professional.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to disturb you. I just came to get some reading."

"Reading?" Dany repeated sharply.

"Yes." He came into the room. "Dr. Jackson had recommended some before he…left. I'm Jonas Quinn." He held out a hand.

Dany accepted it warily. "Lieutenant Dany O'Neill."

Jonas released her hand abruptly. "Relation to Colonel O'Neill?"

"My uncle."

"Ah." Jonas grimaced, and Dany found herself wanting to smile. Clearly this kid was intimidated by her uncle.

"You were looking for something?"

"Uh, yes." Jonas held out the book he was carrying. Dany recognized it from Daniel's library. "Dr. Jackson had me reading about the history of your world. He seemed to think it could provide insight into the problems of my own."

"Which are?" Dany frowned at the volume, began looking around for the next. Daniel had moved it, probably to a spot he, and _only he_, would remember to look for it in the event Jonas asked for it.

Jonas was quiet. Eventually she looked up, and he met her gaze with suspicion. "Colonel O'Neill didn't tell you?"

Dany straightened up from the pile she was pouring through. It wasn't there. "My uncle was gone before I got here. When he called, he only said that Daniel was dead, and I haven't had a chance to read the report yet."

Jonas gestured at one of the stools circling the raised table in the center of the room. "Mind if I take a seat?"

Dany shook her head, and took the stool opposite. She straightened the papers in front of her absently, knowing she'd only have to sort through them later.

"First of all, he didn't exactly _die._"

Dany waved a hand impatiently. "I know, I know. Higher plane of existence. That stuff's a little over my head."

Jonas smiled.

"What?"

"You just remind me a lot of…"

Dany rolled her eyes.

"Okay, well, I should tell you first that what happened to Dr. Jackson was our fault." And Jonas told her the whole story. He told her about the element Naquadria, the near explosion, and Daniel's exposure to the radiation. He told her how his government had tried to cover it up, to blame Daniel for the accident, when in fact it was Daniel that had saved all of their lives.

Which was just like Daniel, Dany thought.

"Were you close?" Jonas asked when he'd finished.

"Yes," Dany admitted. "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for him."

Jonas laid a hand on hers, squeezed just briefly, then pulled away at the look on her face.

"Dany…I just…It must be hard, especially now with your uncle gone…Do you have other family nearby?"

Dany stood up, moved to one of the bookshelves, started pulling books down and laying them on the table. "You said you were looking for more reading."

"Yeah. If you don't mind."

"Nope. I'll find it for you. In the meantime, if you want to make yourself useful, you can help me get this place organized."

_SG-1_

She checked in with Davis before she went home that night. He told her to stay put for the time being, that she was more useful to the SGC just then. She hung up wondering if her entire military career would involve being bounced about, then checked out to search for a burger and some Guinness.

Her uncle had left the fridge well-stocked, which was a blessing, but the food was gone quickly, and Dany realized she was lonely. The house was big and empty without Uncle Jack and Dan.

And Daniel. And Kevin…

She slammed the door of the fridge before she took that trail back any further.

Eight hours and zero sleep later, she reported for duty, vowing to spend her nights in Daniel's office until she was too exhausted to think anymore.

Which was where Jonas found her the following night.

_SG-1_

_Three weeks later…_

"It's a cultural phenomenon."

"You can't tell me you live like this!"

"Vicariously, I do."

Jonas looked over at Dany. "You're never off this base. I can't even picture you having…"

"Friends?" Dany shook her head. "I have…have _had_ friends. This place just sort of…sucks you up."

"And that has nothing to do with your only living relative also working here?"

Dany picked at the weave in the couch. "Not my only living relative."

Jonas's eyebrows shot up to the ceiling. He shifted to face her completely. "Finally, some actual information! Who else is there?"

"Having fun, are we?"

Dany and Jonas both whipped around. Jack O'Neill stood in the doorway.

He didn't wait for a reply. "Dany, you've got a call from Major Davis."

She glanced briefly at Jonas as she stood. The distrust from her uncle was understandable, but she didn't believe Jonas deserved it.

_SG-1_

"Carter says it's an energy build up. She thinks it could explode."

"What kind of build up?"

"I'm emailing you the report. Sir, I think we might want to bring in more help on this one."

"Already have someone in mind. Keep me apprised, Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir."

When Dr. McKay showed up, Dany felt as though she'd betrayed someone.

_SG-1_

"Who is this 'Anubis'?" Jonas asked.

"New head honcho bad guy." Dany tossed the relevant text in his direction. It slapped across his arm.

"Jonas?"

"Uh, oh." He was bent over some notes from Carter.

"Jonas!"

"Sorry." He got up, hastily gathering up at the papers, and shot her an apologetic look. "I've got to get this to General Hammond."

"And he's gone." Dany looked at the text on Egyptian deities. "Sorry, Lord of the Underworld."

_SG-1_

Another call to Davis after the X-302 attempt.

"What does McKay say?"

"Nothing positive. Or helpful, I'd like to add. Sir."

"Right. Listen, Lieutenant, if there's any possibility for evacuation, I want you on that ship."

"Yes, sir."

_SG-1_

"Dramatic much?"

"Yeah, well, it seems to be a universal trait." O'Neill was fiddling with the over-sized nose of one of Daniel's carvings. Some pagan god or bush deity. When he looked up at his niece, she was smiling at him. "What?"

"That's a fertility statue."

"_And?_"

"_And_ you're playing with his…"

O'Neill snatched his hand back hurriedly.

"Did you update Davis?"

Dany nodded. "He's got the geeks on his end working, but he thinks Carter and McKay are our best bet."

"Too bad those two can't get along. They might actually _accomplish_ something."

Dany sighed, got up, and started shelving the stack of books Jonas had returned earlier. "I think that's why the major has me here while he stays in Washington. He doesn't have a lot of patience for bickering."

O'Neill raised his eyebrows. "Davis? The political bike messenger?"

Dany looked at him. "Chain of command's clearer over there. Besides-"

A knock at the door interrupted her. Sergeant Harriman stood just outside." "Lieutenant? General Hammond wants to see you in his office."

_SG-1_

The doctors had another idea. She called Major Davis, made the arrangements to Carter's specifications. When it was done (more or less), she sprinted to catch up with her uncle, catching the tail end of an argument between him and Carter.

"She's right about Jonas," Dany said when the elevator door was closed. Uncle Jack only grunted in response.

She was silent until they reached the surface. Then, just outside the elevator, "All the arrangements are made. They'll fill you in at the airstrip. I just wanted to say…good luck."

Uncle Jack let his bag drop to the floor, reached out to pull his niece into a hug.

"Listen," he said without letting go. "if this works, you and I are gonna have a long chat about how you're settling in."

Dany smiled. "I'll buy the beer."

_SG-1_

Next came the waiting. There hadn't been any training for this part, for staring at scientists staring at screens, for watching General Hammond connect directly to the president instead of waiting for someone like herself to make the call for him, for crossing her fingers and hoping her uncle – hoping they _all _– didn't explode.

The clock ran out, and there was no sign of her uncle…

And then, just like that, there was, and the room was cheering, and Carter was hugging her, and General Hammond was reminding them both they still had jobs to do, but Dany hardly heard any of it now that her heart had started beating again.

She found a phone in the corner to call Major Davis with and tell him the good news.

_SG-1_

It took two weeks and Teal'c's return to Earth with news about the destruction of Anubis's weapon for things to finally settle down. Davis went to Russia in the meantime, to coordinate the lease of their stargate. Dany was left to run communications with the Pentagon, but she stayed at the SGC for that.

When it finally looked like they'd have time to leave the base, Jonas interrupted her packing by rushing in to swoop her up in a bear hug. Dany wasn't much for hugs, but she let him celebrate, and congratulated him before telling him to put her down before she let her uncle kill him. He did so abruptly, shaking her hand and thanking her for the good word he knew she must have put it.

"Thank Carter," she told him. With a sigh of impatience, she threw the notes she'd been gathering haphazardly into her duffel bag and left in search of her uncle.

They met at the surface, both with barely enough energy for the necessary beer run. When they finally made it home, it was late afternoon, and still light out. Uncle Jack made the campfire while Dany ordered the pizza, and when everything was as they wanted it, they settled in companionable silence and let twilight descend.

"Staying on a while?" Uncle Jack asked eventually.

"Another week or so at least," Dany answered, wiping beer off her mouth with the edge of her hoodie. "Deep space telemetry picked up what appears to be an abandoned mothership. Davis is coming here to go with you guys when you check it out. " She smiled. "Actually, I'm going too."

She could just make out the tilt of his eyebrows in the fading light. "Are you now? How come you know my orders before I do?"

"S'my job."


	7. The Plunge and What Followed

Chapter 7: The Plunge and What Followed

_Set during Season 6, "Descent"_

Space. The Final…

Dany shook her head to clear it, leaned over Major Carter's head to blink out the window. "Window" was a bit of a misrepresentation, as what was in front of her was a complex combination of shielding and a glass-like substance, mostly the former. Beyond that…

She wasn't really listening to the conversation between Carter and Selmak, though Major Davis probably expected her to.

"Are we there yet?"

She turned to see her uncle stretching. "Sorry," he said, leaning over a control consul.

"Not yet, Sir. Just close enough to do some scans."

"Scan anything yet?"

"Nothing, Sir."

"Nothing."

Carter went on, and Dany went back to staring out the window. The ship was just_ there_. Floating. Or whatever objects in space did.

Space…

"What are you smilin' at?"

Beside her, Jonas fumbled into an explanation. "Oh, it's just that it's my first time in space."

"Oh."

"We'd only begun to consider the possibility of space travel. To actually be out here is…It's amazing."

"Indeed," said Teal'c.

"Until something goes…horribly wrong," amended Uncle Jack.

"It's my first time too," Dany put in.

"Really?" Her uncle smiled at her.

"What's our status?"

Dany straightened, aware that her position over her superior's head was probably not a professional one. Waiting for a cue from her boss, she wondered when she had become so compliant.

Minutes later, she was passing her CO his gear. Glancing back at the bridge, she saw Jonas staring woefully after them and shot him a half smile. Whatever Jonas's skills, he was still green, and she had to agree with her uncle's decision to leave him behind.

Then again, in space, she was pretty green herself.

"Ready?" Davis was asking.

"Yes, sir."

_SG-1_

They ringed down into an empty corridor and proceeded to the _peltac_. An odd, sort of repetitious static followed them. And then there was the frozen self-destruct…

"Carter, you and Davis see if you can disable that self-destruct altogether."  
>"Yes, Sir."<p>

"Sir." Davis stopped by Dany on his way out. "Stay here with Jacob."

"Yes, sir." When he was gone, she looked at her uncle. "I'm confused. Who's the boss of me?"

"He is," Uncle Jack said, assuming Anubis's throne. "Unless we disagree. In which case I am…all-ordering."

Dany snorted.

_SG-1_

"It's speech," Dany told Jacob when they were alone.

He looked at her.

"The noise. It's someone speaking. Probably through the intercom. But it's garbled, like it's on a bad frequency."

"Can you make it out?"

She raised her eyebrows.

"I'm just asking."

"It's repetitive. There's a pattern. It may even be the countdown, but I don't know enough about motherships to be sure."

"Over there." Jacob indicated a series of panels before responding to Carter's request to open a door.

She_ did_ known a little bit about Goa'uld communication systems, the same way she knew a little bit about radios, and at Major Davis's insistence. But she knew a_ lot_ about languages, and the more often the sound repeated itself, the more certain she was that it wasn't Goa'uld.

_"Lieutenant O'Neill, come in."_

Dany fumbled for her radio. "Sir?"

"I think that sound is coming from the ship's intercom."

"Already on it, sir."

"Keep me apprised."

Jacob glanced over at her as Davis's voice faded. "How's the new job?"

"Oh, you know, stranded motherships, self-entitled politicians…" Dany crossed two crystals and shocked herself. "Ow!"

The radios clicked again, this time more softly_. "Carter, I want you and Davis back on the _peltac_ with Dany and Jacob."_

_ "What's going on, Sir?"_

_ "Friesen's dead."_

Jacob looked at Dany. "Go meet them in the hall."

Dany nodded, unsure whether or not to add "sir" and where Jacob fell in her uncle's theoretical chain of command. She was several corridors down before she heard her uncle's failed attempts to reach Jacob on the radio and, abandoning everyone else's opinions on the matter, raced back.

She found Jacob on the floor of the _peltac_. Her uncle and the others weren't far behind her.

"Sir, we're got another problem."

Looking out the window, Dany saw that Earth was getting closer and quickly. She didn't need to pay attention to Jacob's lamentations about the state of the controls to know what came next.

"We're gonna crash."

"…The ship should survive in one piece," Jacob was saying.

"What about _us_?" Dany demanded.

"Looks like we're goin' in," said Uncle Jack.

_SG-1_

"Well, that was _fun_." O'Neill rolled out from a section of wall at the back end of the room. "Everybody okay?"

A variety of yes's floated back to him from disparate corners of the room, plus a grunt that had to be Dany. As O'Neill got to his feet, he saw Davis pull her out from under the control consul. "Thoughts? Plans? Ideas?"

"Well, Sir…" And Carter was off on a long-winded explanation about life support and the engines. He waved her silent halfway through.

"Take Davis and see what you can do. If nothing else, Hammond'll rescue us…Dany?"

"Back on that sound?"

"Right."

_SG-1_

In the end, they had fifty percent life support, no engines, and imploding walls. On Colonel O'Neill's orders, Carter and the Lieutenant had left to assess both the damage and the virus. Meanwhile, Davis was starting to have his suspicions about the virus and that sound…

"She's a tough kid," Jacob commented from his place at the foot of Anubis's throne.

Davis retrieved his laptop and took a seat near him. "The Lieutenant? She's not much of a kid."

He opened his laptop, hearing Jacob snort and carefully avoiding the older man's eyes. "Well, she's been through a lot more in the short time I've known her than a lot of people do in a lifetime. At least a lot of people from Colorado…You know Jack told her to join the Air Force so she'd have something to do? Something bigger than herself to focus on?"

Davis shook his head. "No, but I have to agree with his logic. I've been trying to keep her busy."

"I think that's wise," Jacob said. "It's what I'd want if it were me, and God knows we need all the good people we can get out there fighting the Goa'uld…but Selmak seems to think it'll catch up with her eventually."

Davis paused, hands hovering above the keyboard. "I've been thinking about that too. I wonder-"

Carter's voice interrupted him. _"Dad, we've got evidence of flooding here."_

"Stand by."

Rushing to help Jacob to his feet, Davis got them both over to the control consul.

"There's been a breach on the engineering level."

_"We're nowhere near engineering!"_

"Looks like the seawater penetrated to the central access shaft, and now the pressure's pushing it up through the core of the ship. We're flooding from the inside."

_"Dad, the door's closing behind us!"_

Davis looked at Jacob in alarm.

"It's a security measure. All the doors are sealed around the breach. I'll try to open them from here."

Not being someone to go off script, Davis had been given his job for a reason. Now, however, he was feeling something akin to panic.

_"Dad, how's it comin' with that door?"_

"It's gonna take some time, Sam."

Time wasn't something they had. Davis ran a hand across the back of his neck.

_ "Jacob?"_

"Yeah, without the proper codes, I can't get access to the security program."

"I'm going down there." Davis made for the door.

"To do what?" Jacob called after him. "The local controls are locked out." He turned back to his radio. "Jack, I'm going to try to find a back door to the program."

_"How long's that going to take? I'm looking at some major shrinkage here."_

"I don't know. This is kind of a unique situation."

That was an understatement. If he was honest with himself, Davis knew his anxiety was largely due to the only person under his command being in that flooding room. God, if Dany _drowned_…

"Give me a few minutes," Jacob was saying.

"Jacob, we could blow the doors," Davis suggested.

"Nah, in such a confined space, the concussion would kill them."

"They'll be dead if we don't. We can't leave them in there to drown, Jacob. We have to do something!"

"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do!"

It was Jacob's daughter down there too, of course, and that wasn't lost on Davis. Another minute passed, then two, then…

"I can't do it…Sam?...I'm sorry."

And Davis felt his heart drop past his boots.

There was a beeping sound, an alert.

"What is that, Jacob?" Davis asked automatically. It seemed irrelevant in that moment.

Jacob's voice was just a little breathy as he answered. "The security protocol's been erased…Jack? Sam? Come in."

The first response they got was, unexpectedly, from Teal'c, who it seemed had made it on board to rescue them. Then…

_"Dad, this is Sam. We're okay."_

"Yes!" Davis clapped Jacob on the shoulder, then backed off as the older man winced.

He couldn't resist grinning at Lieutenant O'Neill as she and the others emerged looking, as they were, half-drowned. "Alright, Lieutenant?"

"Cold, sir."

"Just a little," O'Neill added.

The Lieutenant looked at him. "Remember that winter at the cabin? When Charlie and I fell through the ice and Dan had to fish us out?"

"Yes…" O'Neill answered warily.

"That was a good day."

"I'll make you some hot chocolate when we get home." O'Neill squeezed his niece's shoulder.

_SG-1_

It wasn't as easy as all that. They had to save Thor, for one, and get off the ship, for another. Then SG-1 was left behind. Dany had wondered, in those long, tense minutes, why even when she went with her uncle on a mission, she was still stuck wondering if she'd ever see him again. A brief glance at Jacob told her he was thinking similar thoughts.

Now, hours later, examined, debriefed, and warm, she was sitting in her office waiting again, this time for her uncle to finish up so they could open some beer and light a bonfire. A nice, warm bonfire. She stared at the paperwork on her desk, not really seeing it.

"Lieutenant?" Major Davis came in, looking better than the rest of them, despite his own adventures. He was carrying an intimidating stack of folders. Inwardly, Dany groaned. "How are you doing?"

She sneezed, then glanced at him as she snatched up a tissue.

He smiled, set the paperwork in front of her.

"What's this?" Dany blew her nose, then selected the top file.

"A couple of things. First, some reorganization."

Dany opened the file. "Liaison for the SGC?"

"That's right. You'll still be reporting directly to me, but the president and the joint chiefs feel the majority of your time should be spent here. After the latest incident with Anubis, I'm inclined to agree."

"I guess I'll be spending a lot of time on the phone."

"That's right."

"What's the other thing?"

Davis hesitated before pushing the second folder closer to her. It was much thicker than the first. "I spent some time speaking with Jacob. This is everything we have on the System Lords: their movements, their territories, their feuds, their organization. At the end is the most recent intell the Tok'ra have on the whereabouts of your brother."

Dany did not immediately touch the file. When she did, she drew it over with the same respect she might show a grenade. Then she looked up at her boss.

"Jonas will be taking over much of Dr. Jackson's work, which leaves you with a little more time. I figure, as long as you're here, you can take some of that time to look into this. It's possible you may see something the Tok'ra haven't. Of course, I don't expect this to interfere with the rest of your work."

"Of course not, sir."

Davis moved toward the door.

"Thank you, sir."

He nodded once in her direction, then left.


	8. Priorities

Chapter 8: Priorities

_Set mid Season 6._

It was a sudden sweep across her shins that finally brought Dany down. The breath blew out of her in one giant bubble as her stomach hit the floor. Her jaw cracked against the tile, making her eyes water. Someone was kneeling on top of her, a knee in her spine, pinning her arms securely across her back. Through the fog of pain and the dimming tint of red she'd been staring through only moments before, Dany made a decision: she was never, _ever_ going anywhere without her gun again.

Someone was shouting. A familiar voice, and the more alert parts of her focused on it as vaguely comforting. The pressure eased off her back, and she was being lifted, gently but firmly, to her feet.

"Did I damage our interests?" she asked later, when the crowd had settled and she was sitting in a quiet courtyard.

Major Davis was approaching, a moistened cloth in one hand. He knelt down in front of her and held up the cloth questioningly. Dany nodded.

"By refusing the unwanted advances of a self-entitled senator's son? No." Davis very carefully brushed at the blood on her chin. When he got to the split in her lower lip, Dany winced, and Davis smiled as he handed her the cloth. "Although it might be easier on the men in this country if you stuck to your uniform from now on."

Dany pressed the cloth to her lip and looked down at her dress. A simple black, borrowed from Carter, but it hugged her body like a tailored gloved. "Fat lip might help too," she said through the cloth.

"Not a chance."

The next moment slugged by, and Dany decided she'd had enough of nursing her bruised face. She let her hand fall into her lap. "Sir." It was hard to meet his eyes now. "I'm not sure I'm the right person for this job."

With a sigh, Davis rose to take a seat on the bench beside her. "Most soldiers aren't exactly fond of politics."

"When we're in the middle of it, when Hammond's barking orders at me, or Carter's rattling off specs I have to remember so I can relay them to you, that's _fine_. I get that. It's easy to remember why I do this job. But this-" She waved at the building in front of them, chandeliers, self-entitled senators' sons and all. "I _hate_ this."

Davis laughed lightly, startling her. She had served under him nearly a year, but never heard him laugh before.

"I know," he said. "I hate it too."

With a deep breath and a stiffening of her already abused spine, Dany went on, quietly, "If I resigned my commission, do you think General Hammond would let me go offworld?"

The silence that followed was horrible. From Davis's stare, she knew whatever else he'd deduced about her, he hadn't seen that coming. She looked down at the cloth in her hands.

"The information you gave me…I talked to Jacob when he was back last week. The Tok'ra think they have a pretty good idea where Dan is." She bit her lip, then bit it again to keep from crying out. Holding up the cloth again, she continued, "Most of the time I can convince myself that whatever we're doing is helping Dan because we're helping _everybody_, because we're working towards the larger goal of eradicating the Goa'uld once and for all. But sir, I can't be attending parties while my brother is still out there. I need to _do something_."

Davis was quiet for a long time, during which Dany managed to stop the bleeding again. "I'm not letting you resign," he said finally. "I'm sorry. We need you here. But things are quiet right now. Put together a mission plan. If Hammond approves, I think we can spare you for a few days, provided SG-1 is willing to go with you."

_SG-1_

The mission was, of course, a bust, but that was nothing compared to what followed. When Davis arrived at the SGC to collect his assistant, he found that SG-1 had just returned, and without the Lieutenant. She had entered the gate with them, but not come out the other side.


	9. Minnesota

Chapter 9: Minnesota

_Set during Season 6, immediately following the events of the last chapter._

She saw the lights first, blinked, and her uncle came into focus.

"Uncle Jack?" she croaked.

"Yes," he said. His chin rested on his hand as he studied her. "Who are you?"

Her mind scrambled for an answer to that question, even as she faded again. "I'm Dany," she murmured.

_SG-1_

No one was there when she woke again. A nurse, adjusting her IV, but she hardly counted under the circumstances.

"Dan?" Dany asked, voice raspy.

The nurse gave her some water before disappearing.

_SG-1_

The room spun a little, like she was drunk, but Dany knew that wasn't the case. Besides, drinking wouldn't change the sign over the conference table.

When her uncle Jack arrived, Dan in tow, it was the first thing she asked about, her mind grasping at the relatively insignificant detail. "When did we change the sign?"

Uncle Jack glanced over his shoulder at the legend "SGHQ." "We didn't," he said. "Sit down."

Dany obeyed, feeling cold. As she looked at her brother, the feeling deepened. He was regarding her with confusion, hesitation, and just a little resentment. Dany swallowed.

"I thought the mission had failed," she said. Neither man answered. "Okay, what is this?"

Uncle Jack folded his hands in front of him. "You tell me."

"I…This isn't funny."

Dan took a deep breath. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Stepping through the Gate. We knew we couldn't get to you…" She squeezed her eyes shut, opened them again. "You!" She pointed at Uncle Jack. "You gave the order to retreat! You pushed me through ahead of you…"

"To where?" asked the man in front of her.

"To - to _here_! To Stargate…Stargate Command…" Dany squinted at the sign hanging over them. SGHQ…The cold feeling was growing, deepening. "What's the last thing _you_ remember?"

"Asking my wife if we had enough beer in the house," the man who could not have been her uncle Jack replied. "Then there was an unscheduled activation."

They waited while she worked it out. When she finally spoke, she sounded small. "I was on a mission with SG-1, a team comprised of yourself," she indicated Jack "O'Neill, "Major Carter, and two aliens, Teal'c and Jonas Quinn. I take it that, at least, is not the case here." The uniform the Jack O'Neill in front of her was wearing read "General O'Neill" on the left breast.

"What do you mean 'here'?" asked Dan.

Dany chose her words carefully. "Our SG teams have encountered several of what we call 'alternate realities.' Now, unless someone is playing a very sick joke, or you are Goa'ulds messing with my mind, I'm guessing that's what this is."

"Dr. Lam?" Jack O'Neill said after a long, tense moment.

A young woman in a lab coat appeared, face quiet and assessing. "Sir?"

"Do a DNA test."

_SG-1_

There were three tests, just to confirm, and then someone must have made them stop, because Dany found herself in the conference room again with two no less suspicious interrogates.

"What mission were you on?" Jack asked without preamble.

Dany glanced at the other Dan. "A rescue mission. Look, you could always call your me in. "She'll know I'm telling the truth. "

Impossibly, the tension mounted. The suggestions hung in the air, until Dan shifted in his seat. "My sister was killed four months ago."

Dany had thought she was done with shock, after all she had been through, but then she was used to being the one who survived.

Dan went on, "She was working in Tanzania as an assistant to a Dr. Elizabeth Weir. There was an explosion at the embassy."

"I'm sorry," Dany said, feeling strange.

"Look, we don't…_doubt_ your story," Jack said. "It's just a little…"

"Hard to swallow?" A third man entered the room, in military garb. He was about her and Dan's age and had their uncle's brown hair and shadowed bright eyes. He pulled up a chair next to Dan. "Look, Dad, McKay and I've been over all the reports. Her story checks out. I know it's weird, but there isn't another explanation. At least not that he can come up with."

During this speech, an invisible something had lodged itself in Dany's throat. She tried now to speak around it, but hardly any sound came out. "_Charlie?_"

He looked at her, glanced at the others, then back. "Yes…"

This was over the line. Dany turned her chair to the side, leaned over, and stuck her head between her knees.

"Are you alright?" Dan asked stupidly.

She focused on the words, one at a time, as she said them. "My cousin Charlie was killed when we were eight."

Silence. Then, "How?"

She shook her head violently, feeling the blood rush into it.

"You should get back to the infirmary."

"No. No…I'm…I'm fine." Dany sat up, and it was Charlie standing over her, ready to assist her to her feet.

"This isn't my world," Dany whispered.

"It is," the ghost said back calmly. In its eyes Dany saw something of her own grief, a sadness mirrored across universes. "I mean, at least as I understand it. It's all a little over my head."

The rest of the conversation was a haze. She answered a lot of questions about the differences between this reality and her own, but she remembered after that she gave away no secrets, revealed no codes. She did her job even in the fog of universal travel.

This reality, it seemed, was inverted from her own. Charlie was alive. Her parents were alive. Jack and Sara O'Neill were still comfortably married. Her brother was safe and sound. Her own sad story came out in fits and stutters, and Charlie and Dan hung on every word.

Eventually, they made her rest. As the door to the guest quarters – complete with Marine-issue doorman – closed behind her, she could hear Dan's voice, soft, but not soft enough for her, so attuned had they always been.

"But what do we _do_ with her?"

Going home, it seemed, was not an option.

_SG-1_

They never told her whose idea it was, but Dany always suspected Charlie. At any rate, it was Charlie standing outside her door that morning holding a duffel bag filled with the other Dany's clothes.

"You have no military commission here," he explained. "Get dressed."

She did as she was told, but kept her SG-1 jacket. Charlie frowned when he saw it, but didn't argue.

Dan met them in the lot, and they piled into Jack's truck. Dan's hand hovered over the ignition. "Are we sure about this?"

"Better idea?" Charlie asked reasonably.

Dan grunted, but turned the key and put the truck in drive. As they drove away from the base, Dany wondered briefly how he'd become the grumpy one.

_No me to take care of_, she realized. _No_ _angry, embittered sister to gum up the works_.

"Where are we going?" she asked aloud.

"Cabin," Charlie answered cheerfully.

"_Minnesota?_"

"So you know it?"

"Is that…you know, legal?"

"I don't think there are any laws about this sort of thing."

"Crossing universes, or replacing dead sisters?" Dan asked.

They all tensed, then Charlie slapped Dan across the back of the head.

"_Ow!_ What was that for?"

"Being a dick." Charlie looked at Dany and shrugged. "Works when Mom does it."

Despite herself, Dany quipped. "To him or to _you_?"

It was hard to tell from where she was sitting, but she thought she saw the edge of Dan's smirk.

_SG-1_

It was November, and the cabin was _cold_. It was with an instinct born out of a childhood in long, northern winters that Dany stomped into the living room, retrieving matches from their signature place on the bookshelf to light the woodstove. Her brother came in behind her with additional wood. Charlie had gone out in search of pizza. How it would keep warm on the long drive from town was anyone's guess.

"Beer in the shed?" Dany asked without thinking. Dan stopped what he was doing to stare at her. "Sorry. That's where my Uncle Jack keeps it."

Dan returned his attention to the logs he was carefully stacking. "You're not my sister."

"No shit. And my brother's nicer. _I_ get to be the asshole back home."

He straightened again and met her gaze for a long moment. "Okay, okay…" He chuckled. "Although the resemblance is striking."

Dany fetched the beer without asking again, and the severed twins settled in to wait for Charlie.

"Why'd you bring me here?" she asked eventually, just because the silence was beginning to feel less awkward.

"Weren't sure what else to do. Charlie thought…Well, he misses you. Our you. I guess that's the best explanation." Dan looked at her curiously, hostility momentarily gone. "You never explained how he died."

Dany swallowed a good third of her beer before answering. "Shot himself with Uncle Jack's gun."

He didn't immediately respond. When he did, it was to address the real problem, the thing that hung between them all. "She…It just hasn't been that long. It almost feels like…"

"A fresh blow?"

"Yes."

The door opened behind them, followed by the sound of stomping. "Start the party without me?" Charlie asked as he removed his boots.

"Yep," said Dan. "That pizza'd better be _warm_."

_SG-1_

Dany woke the next morning to a headache and a scraping sound outside her window. Padding out to the living room, she glared briefly at the long cold woodstove. The scraping continued. They needed more logs. She padded to her coat and boots, silently cursing boys and their ability to sleep through anything.

The coat she'd grabbed, she realized when she was halfway out the door, wasn't actually hers. It was one of Jack's, the same one she always stole when she was at her uncle's cabin in impossibly cold weather. Shaking her head at the wonder of the universe, she continued until she was out in the sunshine, extra bright from the reflective blanket beneath it.

An unfamiliar truck was in the driveway, and a tall figure in an unfamiliar toboggan was shoveling a path to the door.

Dany waited for the invader to notice her. He stopped, moved aside his scarf, but before he could speak Dany felt her heart fall out into the snow.

"_Elliot?_"

"I'd say you must be Dany," he said, "but you're supposed to be dead."

_SG-1_

Charlie's scrambled eggs were Aunt Sara's with hot sauce.

"Eat up, kids," he said, passing around plates.

"What," Elliot asked around a mouthful of bacon, "exactly is going on?"

"It's a long story," Dan muttered into his coffee cup.

"And it's classified," Charlie added firmly. "Besides, _you're_ not even supposed to be here."

Elliot grinned. "Open invitation from General O'Neill, remember?" he propped one leg up on the chair next to him and patted it. "Didn't realize you were all on vacation."

"We're not exactly," Dan said as Charlie shoved Elliot's leg off so he could take a seat. Dany passed him the coffee pot. Dan continued, "We're here for a month or so, maybe longer, depending on…things. If you can keep your trap shut, you can stay."

Dany had spent the meal trying to look like her attention was on her coffee and eggs. Clearly, Elliot didn't know about the Stargate Program, which meant he couldn't know about her either. His connection to her alternate brother and cousin was vague, but she was betting it had a lot to do with his clearly injured leg.

"The more, the merrier," Charlie said amicably.

Which was how Dany came to view it. None of them were the type to sit still for long, regardless of how much beer was available. The days filled up with ice hockey, snow-shoeing, sledding, card games, and yes, beer, and. A week passed, then two, and she found herself playing checkers with her cousin.

Dan and Elliot were in town searching for alcohol and other necessities.

"What's the deal with you and Elliot?" Charlie asked, hopping two of her pieces.

Dany raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're more or less comfortable with Dan and me now," he explained. "Kevin, not so much."

Dany muttered something about nosy family under her breath.

"What was that?"

She took a deep breath, and Charlie grinned. "Sometimes, you're a lot like Dad."

Dany glared at him. "_You_," she said sharply, before tapering off into honesty, "aren't all that difficult. I never_ knew_ you, not like this. Dan…we found an understanding. Elliot…"

"You had a thing."

She nodded, then shook her head. "Not since basic. We smartened up after that. I at least knew what I was working towards. Then we were recruited for the Stargate Program…Elliot was killed on the same mission Dan was captured."

The fire crackled. The checkers pieces lay neglected.

"This Elliot doesn't know I'm military," Dany went on. "Was military. He flirts with me…It's like the old Elliot, the lost Elliot, but not. And it is…confusing."

"You lost everything," Charlie said quietly.

"Just about."

"We only lost you."

Dany threw a checker at him. "_Only_?"

He ignored the jibe. "Maybe this was meant to be."

_SG-1_

Another week passed, maybe a little more, and Dany remembered what Dan had said about this not being a vacation.

It certainly _felt_ like one. Surrounded by her dearest family and best friend, it was sometimes easy to believe she was home at the family cabin, enjoying an ordinary winter furlough. With each passing day, she and Charlie settled more and more into the friendship they might have had if he had lived in her reality. He was the perfect complement to her and Dan, the third corner of a triangle.

Dan thawed. One night, during an argument which she could never recall later, he reached over and yanked one of her braids. Startled, she flinched away, and they both froze, knowing a line had been crossed. But it was so effortless, looking at him, to see Dan, that she felt her own face cracking in a smile that mirrored the one stretching across his own. The remainder of the ice in the room melted, and from then on they were friends.

This Elliot wasn't her Elliot per say. The injury that made him limp ever so slightly, that kept him a pace behind the others, had also kept him out of the Stargate Program. He had shadows in his eyes where her Elliot had had hope and determination, and he flirted when her Elliot had hesitated.

But they weren't at the Academy anymore, and she wasn't expected to honor military decorum, so he persisted, and she encouraged him.

One particularly stormy weekend, Dan and Charlie were called back to SGHQ. As they were leaving, Dan pulled Dany aside.

"He doesn't know," he said, tipping his head in Elliot's direction.

She nodded.

"You can't tell him anything. Not even a little bit."

She glared at him. "I'm an _Air Force officer_, remember? I know the rules."

Dan grimaced. "I'm sorry. Sometimes it's so easy…"

"I know."

He leaned in closer. "Go easy on him, okay? He's had his disappointments too. Maybe…if Charlie's right, maybe you can help each other. Something to think about."

_Some people get the wrong end of the stick in all universes_, she thought as Dan left.

_SG-1_

After a bottle of Scotch – or the remnants of it. Dan and Charlie had promised to bring back more – a hearty dinner, and a viewing of _Ghostbusters_, Dany was in the kitchen washing up, thinking of her strange job and the few and strange places it had taken her in the year she'd held it. She wondered, if she stayed, if going home was truly not an option, what she'd do with herself. Remote translating for the military? She could live at the cabin. No one need ever know she was there, question her being alive.

Her hands moved automatically, fingers finding the crumbs and crusted grease even as her mind ignored them. When she was finished, she dried her hands in the same haze. She discarded the towel, turned, and jumped. Elliot stood in the doorway, smiling shyly.

"It occurred to me I should have offered to help," he said.

"Too late," Dany told him shakily. She moved past him, but in the narrow door frame their bodies brushed lightly.

Standing in the living room, Dany was very aware they were alone. All thoughts of possible alternate universe career paths were forgotten. She was alone, secluded, in a snow storm, with Kevin Elliot.

A number of scenarios played out rapid fire in her head.

Following the reel was another picture, not of her imagining, of her own Lieutenant Elliot on the ground, leaning against a tree, face pale as he struggled to speak, to tell them to leave him behind…

"Will that be you?" a voice said near her ear, another voice from her memories. "Will you be left behind too?"

The voice drifted closer, accompanied by a glow. "They won't give up, won't stop looking. You wouldn't."

She closed her eyes.

"Are you alright?"

She whirled. Elliot was limping into the room behind her. His leg dragged more than usual. She wondered if the cold was getting to him."

"Yeah, I just think we need more heat in here," she said, crouching in front of the woodstove.

"I know you're not supposed to talk about it," Elliot continued softly, standing by her as she worked, "but it's not easy…almost dying." His voice twisted, become just a little bit bitter. "I should know."

"How about I don't ask you, and you don't ask me?"

Dany opened the stove, and heat blared out into her face, hiding her discomfort.

"Dany," Daniel was still speaking. "_Ours is the only reality of consequence_."

"Fine by me," said Elliot. "No one ever said solidarity required a lot of speaking."

They talked about everything _but_ their injuries that night. Sports and music. Friends and books. They talked late into the night, and as Dany rose from banking down the fire, Elliot was once again standing beside her, and it was the most natural thing in the world to kiss him. Later, when he was snoring softly beside her, skin ghost pale in the moonlight, she thought to herself how easily they had aligned with each other, despite a bum knee and theoretical physics.

But in the morning, Daniel was waiting in the living room, complete with heavenly glow and disappointed sadness.

Elliot was still asleep, so she had no issued showing her displeasure with the hallucination. She marched past it to the kitchen. It followed, watching as she filled the coffee pot.

"Dany. You can't stay here."

She jerked on the faucet with unnecessary force.

"This isn't your home. You don't belong here."

She dumped the grounds haphazardly in the filter, slammed the lid of the pot.

"What about Dan? Was about your brother? Are you just going to abandon him to the Goa'uld?"

Eggs. They should have eggs for breakfast.

"_Dany._" Daniel's voice was urgent now. "I know you feel like you don't have anything to go back to, but sometimes the right thing is worth doing for its own sake."

She opened the fridge, fighting the urge to claw the hallucination's eyes out. She pulled out the eggs.

"Shouldn't I be the one making breakfast in bed?"

Thought somewhat disheveled, Elliot looked like a Minnesota sunrise. Dany smiled at him, and he came forward to kiss her warmly.

_SG-1_

"What are the odds your brother _won't_ kill me?"

They were on the couch, feet propped on the coffee table carved by some O'Neill three or four generations back. Elliot's arm curled lightly around Dany's shoulder, and her hand reached up so their fingers could twine together. It was late afternoon, the sun fading, it's last raying filtering through the trees to bury the living room in the oblivion of twilight.

Dany laughed, relishing in the sensation in her hand where it met his.

A crunching came up the drive. "I guess we're about to find out," she said, shifting so she could lean closer into him.

"Dany, it's time," said Daniel, and Dany felt the cold return to her bones as the door opened.

Charlie's face as he entered was grim. Dan appeared behind him, raising his eyebrows, and behind him Jack O'Neill. Behind him…Jack O'Neill?

Dany let go Elliot's hand and stood, staring from one man to the other. Their clothes were civilian. There was no insignia to give away rank. Only…only the hollows in one's eyes went deeper than in the other's.

"Uncle Jack?" she said, taking a step forward.

He closed the gap, and she was scrunched tightly, nose buried in Carhartt and the faint smells of fuel and winter. Eyes shut tightly, she knew Daniel had been right.

"I don't understand," Elliot's voice came from behind her, muffled and uncertain.

"Yeah," said the other Jack O'Neill. "We're gonna need you to fill out some paperwork."


	10. Trust Part II

Chapter 10: Trust Part II

_Season in Season 6, during "Smoke & Mirrors."_

One of the first questions Jonas Quinn had asked following the arrest of Colonel O'Neill was, "Where's Dany?" These days, it was as unusual to see Major Davis on base without his assistant as it was to see O'Neill off base without his niece. Both men, it seemed, were reluctant to let the girl out of their sight following her two month disappearance. It was a fact Jonas had noted, but not mentioned to anyone. O'Neill was prickly, and Davis…well, all signs indicated Davis wasn't too aware of the fact himself.

Dany, on the other hand, had thrown herself into her responsibilities with renewed fervor. She was a model soldier when on duty, and an impatient, devoted sister when off. Her report on her time in the alternate reality had been vague, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to know something had happened to make her miss her brother all the more. And the Stargate Program had its share of rocket scientists.

Which was why it was so unusual to see her standing idly by while her uncle was under arrest for a crime nobody who knew him believed he'd committed.

"That's just the problem," Davis said when Jonas ventured the question. His lips tightened, and Jonas didn't press further. He wondered if the major had had an argument with his assistant.

"I've sent her to Washington," General Hammond explained later. "Major Davis has her working on an unrelated project. I don't want her presence tainting any evidence your team gathers in their investigation, and Major Davis believes her judgment is compromised by the situation."

"Well, with all due respect, sir, all of our judgments are compromised," Jonas said bluntly. "None of us actually believe Colonel O'Neill could have done this. Why would you trust us and not her?"

General Hammond regarded him impatiently. "You're very bright, son, but you've got a lot to learn about politics. If it makes you feel any better, part of my reasoning for sending the lieutenant to Washington was to provide Major Carter with backup if she needs it. Both Dany and Major Carter are aware of this."

"Guess this falls under that military rule that commanding officers don't always have to explain their reasoning," Jonas said. "Colonel O'Neill explained it to me."

General Hammond shook his head as the younger man left, thinking assassin or no, Colonel O'Neill was the last person who should be lecturing anyone on military decorum.

_SG-1_

In the end, General Hammond's foresight paid off. Dany was still in the sullen throes of her Irish temper when she got the call from Carter, and answered with perhaps more force than was warranted.

"_What?_"

Carter, who knew enough of O'Neills not to take this personally, didn't miss a beat. "Dany, where is Major Davis?"

Dany threw a file across her desk. The TOP SECRET flap popped open, and the contents scattered across the room where anyone who entered could observe them. "No idea," Dany said, settling herself in the chaos with limited satisfaction. "The major and I are not currently on speaking terms. I'm afraid you'll have to call him direct."

"Dany, I know you're angry, but I need you to listen to me. Did Davis receive orders to retrieve Senator Kinsey from the hospital?"

"_Excuse me?_" Dany sat upright again.

"Kinsey is alive. It's a long story. Dany, I need to know if he got those orders. There could be someone out there with a mimic device programmed to look just like him."

"Got it. I'll find him. Stay on the line."

The corner of the Pentagon their offices were located in was unusually busy. Dany nearly didn't see Davis as he was leaving in the company of three men, three men in suits with grim faces and a harried jerk to their moments.

Dany bolted across the room to come to a stop at her boss's elbow.

"Sir!"

"Not now, Lieutenant."

She grabbed the elbow as he turned to go. "Sir, it's urgent."

He regarded her for a moment, and the tension wasn't lost on Dany. "Gentlemen, if you'll excuse us a moment."

One of the suited men shifted. "Major, we don't have a lot of time."

"This'll just take a moment."

_Moment, my ass_, Dany thought has she led him away from them. If Carter was right, there was _no way_ Davis was going anywhere with those men.

When they were sufficiently out of earshot of everyone in the room, Dany spoke low and quickly, "Sir, did you receive a set of orders to retrieve Senator Kinsey this afternoon?"

Davis's frown deepened. "Lieutenant, you're not supposed to know about that…"

"Sir, please. Did you receive the orders?"

"No, Lieutenant, I did not receive any orders. As far as I know, Senator Kinsey is to remain at the hospital. It's the safest place for him right now."

Dany turned her mouth into her phone. "Sam, he didn't get them."

There was a soft sigh at the other end of the line. "Alright, we have a plan. Dany, keep him with you, and keep in public. Make sure plenty of people know where you are. He'll need the alibi if we aren't successful. I'll call you when we're done."

"Understood."

Dany hung up. Davis had looked on the point of a reprimand all through the conversation, and in the back of her mind Dany wondered if she wasn't in for it when all this was over. Then again, she probably deserved it, having been foul to him for days.

She nodded at the men waiting by the door. "NID?"

Davis's mouth tightened. "Lieutenant…"

"The mimic devices were stolen from Area 51. Carter thinks they plan to send someone to try to assassinate Senator Kinsey again, looking like you. Obviously, your orders were intercepted."

Davis took this in, then headed for his office, Dany in tow. "I need to make a call, get someone down there to warn the senator."

Dany hit the hang up even as he began dialing. "Sir, we don't know who's in on this. Let Carter and Agent Barrett handle it." Davis tried to brush her hand away to dial again, but Dany held firm. "Sir, _please_. They're trying to stop who's behind this. Besides, what are you going to do? Go public with the foothold situation?"

"Major."

Both officers turned. The suited men from before stood in the doorway to Davis's office.

"I'm sorry, gentlemen," the major said calmly. "A situation has arisen that requires my immediate attention."

"Sir, this is important."

"I'm aware of that, but this is even more so. I'm going to have to ask you to excuse me."

There wasn't a whole lot they could do, not in a crowded office, not without tipping their hand further by revealing they had other plans for Major Davis than whatever it was they had told him. All the same, Dany's hand slipped behind her back, lifting the edge of her jacket to where she'd been keeping a pistol in the waistband of her skirt. It was a recent addition to her wardrobe, but after today, she suspected it would be a permanent fixture.

"Gentlemen, if you'll excuse us." Davis's voice carried an authority unusual for him. The men glanced at each other and left, but Dany noted one of them on his cell phone as soon as they reached the main door.

"Carter said she'd call when it's over," she said lamely.

Davis nodded. "Do we have anything on the foothold situation?"

Dany shook her head. "One file, and only on the devices. Technically, we shouldn't even have that."

"Nevermind that. Pull it. We're going to need a strategy regardless of how this goes down."

_SG-1_

It went down smoothly, as they say, save for a gloating Kinsey and public handshake Dany was sure her uncle enjoyed even less than the jail cell. She wondered, after, at the power of their media to imprison. Offworld, if you escaped from whichever dungeon you happened to get yourself locked in, you were free again, save for being chased by the same people who'd imprisoned you. But on Earth, you were running from everyone forever after. America's dungeons, Dany decided, were more comfortable, and at the same time more confining, all because of wretched public opinion.

She missed the cabin.

It was well after five when Davis entered her office, closed the door softly behind him, and took the seat across her desk. She leaned back in her chair and waited.

"I know you're still angry with me for not telling you about the senator, for leaving you out. Lieutenant, I know you know this, but the political ramifications in this situation are huge. We're lucky Major Carter and Agent Barrett were able to resolve the situation how they did, or the administration's political stability would have been the least of our concerns. Dragged out into too much light, the foothold situation could have meant the end of the Stargate Program. And you made your feelings about your uncle's arrest perfectly clear."

"I don't have a lot of family left, Sir," Dany said darkly. "You'll have to forgive me for wanting to keep them safe."

"Which is exactly my point," Davis replied. "Your loyalty was compromised, your judgment clouded by your personal feelings."

"Sir, if the…Trust had succeeded, you'd be sharing a cell with Uncle Jack right now. Would you want _my personal feelings clouding my judgment then_?"

Davis didn't respond, and Dany sunk further back in her chair, the fight having left her with that last sentence. But there was more.

"Sir, when I took this assignment, you told me for it work, I would need to trust you. That works both ways."

There was a knock at her door, and her uncle's head appeared. His uniform was gone, and he looked, more than anything else, like her uncle Jack, who she hadn't seen through this entire ordeal.

"Sorry to interrupt."

"That's alright, sir," Davis said without turning. "How can we help you?"

"I was just hoping to catch Dany for dinner. Carter and I we're thinking of trying this Irish pub a few blocks over."

Dany nodded. "Sounds great. I could use the beer."

"You and me both. Davis, you're welcome to join us."

"Thank you, sir, but I have a lot to finish up here. If you'll give me another moment with the lieutenant, she can go."

"I'll be just outside."

The door closed behind Uncle Jack, and Davis cleared his throat. "You're right, Lieutenant. And I'm sorry."

It was an odd argument to have won, and for a moment, Dany could only nod. "Thank you, sir."

"Stay on a few days before you head back to the SGC. I want your help wrapping this up."

"Yes, sir."


	11. A Reunion and a Farewell

Chapter 11: A Reunion and a Farewell

_Set at the beginning of Season 7, during "Fallen" and "Homecoming."_

The mission, her uncle informed over the phone, was bat-shit crazy.

"That's what you do," she told him cheerfully, "the crazy things. We're thinking of renaming the Stargate Program to reflect more of that aspect."

"At the very least, I want that on my tombstone," Uncle Jack said. "'He boldly went where everyone else was smart enough not to go before.'"

"I'll make a note."

"Listen, Dany." Uncle Jack paused, which meant he was about to say something uncomfortable, and Dany knew that this sort of conversation required more of his courage than any mission, however crazy. She waited.

"General Hammond is sending over the reports today, but there's something I wanted to tell you myself. Actually, I'm hoping Davis will send you back, because we could use your help…"

She hung up the phone and practically flew into Davis's office, skidding to a stop and belatedly reaching back to knock on the door frame.

He raised his eyebrows, but not without amusement. Davis had had his own share of headaches lately, what with disclosing the existence of the Stargate to their onworld allies and playing political shot-put with Senator Kinsey, and there had been a few shadows under his eyes before that as well. Dany was glad to see even the hint of a smile.

"They found Daniel," she announced breathlessly.

"What? Jackson?"

She nodded vigorously. "He descended, or retook human form, or something. They're not really sure. He doesn't remember anything."

"About what happened to him, or about his time as an ascended being?"

She shook her head. "No._ Anything_. Blank slate. Uncle Jack says it's coming back in little pieces. He'd like me to come back and help. At any rate, they could use some help with their new plan. It's all in the report General Hammond is sending over today. There's a lot of translating, and with Anubis taking over the galaxy…"

"I get it. I'll read the report. Go. But keep me informed."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir."

"And Lieutenant?"

She stuck her head back in the door. Davis seemed unsure how to form his next sentence. "I'm…glad he's back, happy for you all."

"Thank you, sir."

_SG-1_

She found Daniel and Jonas in their lab, every surface, vertical and horizontal, covered in Ancient writing. She dropped her bag at the door, and both men looked up.

Jonas smiled warmly. "I'm glad you could come."

"Wouldn't miss it," she told him. "Besides, someone has to be here to dumb down what you're saying for everyone else."

Jonas laughed. "We could use your help with this too. Dr. Jackson, this is-"

"Dany," Daniel said, brow furrowed as he stared her down. "Your name is Dany."

"Yes." She approached him carefully, not wanting to spook him, but also wanting to throw her arms around her friend and mentor. "I, um…I'm not sure what I should say to you. I know they want you to remember most things on your own. I'm…I'm very glad you're back."

"Uh, thank you." Daniel looked around him at the lab, now returned to its comfortable state of chaos. Dany found herself glad. Jonas had kept the place entirely too neat. "You can help with this?"

Dany took a seat beside Jonas. "Yup. You taught me."

"I did?"

She nodded.

"Then I guess let's get back to it…"

_SG-1_

As reunions went, it was a difficult one. She called Davis that night to fill him in on the progress of the plan, then curled up in her quarters in a swamp of notes, but it was difficult to sleep.

There was a light knock, and the door opened as she grunted her permission to enter and sat up.

"Sorry," Daniel said. "I think I might have been rude earlier."

Dany shook her head. "You obviously don't remember much if you think I care about being rude." She indicated a chair.

"That's right. You're Jack's niece, right?" Daniel pulled the chair up near the bed. "You have a brother too."

"Missing," she said quietly. "The Goa'uld took him."

"Took him?"

"As a host."

Daniel was quiet for a long while. He seemed to be working something out. "That's what happened to her. To Sha're."

"Yes," Dany whispered.

"You know, when they asked me to come back, no one ever mentioned anything like this. They didn't talk about the things I _wouldn't _want to remember, and though I knew on some level there were things I was happier not knowing, I didn't expect_ this_."

Dany made a show of organizing her piles, though in fact she hardly saw what went where. "Most of the people on this base have been through some tragedy or other since joining the Stargate Program, some before. For a while there, you were one of those tragedies. I imagine they were just so glad to have _one bad thing undone_, they didn't think about what they were asking you to do."

"Yeah...I guess I would have felt the same, I just…"

"I get it. But, you were always the big picture guy. You were the one who reminded us that it's not just our losses, our sacrifices. It's an entire galaxy full of people suffering, an entire planet full of people who would be if we weren't out there doing what we do."

Daniel looked at her with a sad smile. "That's an awful lot to bear."

"Which is why we don't spend a lot of time thinking about it." Dany grinned.

_SG-1_

Dany didn't go on the "halfassbackwards mission Carter and Jonas had cooked up," of course. She spent it in the conference of Stargate Command, once more transformed into a bullpin, and she spent at least half that time on the phone with Davis.

Which seemed to be her life now, she reflected. Waiting for her uncle to come home, interuppted by a series of phone calls to her CO.

At one point, she felt a strong hand on her shoulder, squeezing, and she looked up into the grim eyes of General Hammond, and remembered that she wasn't the only one swallowing her anxiety. She wondered what it must be like to be the certified father figure, sending your children out after bread crumbs you knew might lead to the witch's oven.

_SG-1_

Jonas found her in her office, and like so many before him, closed the door behind him. He deposited his bag on a table by the door, but he didn't sit.

"Going?" Dany asked needlessly.

"Yeah," he said. "I think it's the thing I need to do."

"Must be nice," she said briskly, rising, "knowing that."

"Yeah, but it doesn't make it any easier."

She crossed the room to give him a rough hug.

"I'm going to miss you," he mumbled against her shoulder.

Dany pulled back, but not away, to look at him properly.

"But I have a feeling our paths will cross again," Jonas continued. "That seems to be the way of things in this universe. I think the Ancients would say we're all linked somehow."

Later, as he made his way through the Stargate, Dany wondered if that link could lead her where she needed to go. She felt adrift in a sea of people who knew their place in the universe, while the only person who'd ever felt like home to her was drifting in the sea of stars that went beyond them all.

Then she felt her uncle's arm around her shoulders, and knew that wasn't true.

_SG-1_

She phoned Davis, gave him her preliminaries, then told him emphatically she was done for the weekend. He didn't argue.

She stopped at the women's locker room, then, comfortably in her civilian clothes, made her way to Daniel's office, which had regained a smell she associated with Daniel and with disorganization, and which she had unconsciously missed while Jonas occupied it.

"Ready?" she asked.

Daniel looked up from his notes and squinted at her. "For?"

"Bonfire. Beer. Or in your case, wine in a mug."

"I don't…"

"It's tradition. You'll remember eventually."

He set down his pen and straightened his glasses. "I guess I could get started on that then."

They met Uncle Jack at the elevators, and all three went home.


	12. God and Country

Chapter 12: God and Country

_Set during Season 7, "Evolution Part II."_

"To summarize: permission to go with Colonel O'Neill to look for Dr. Jackson, sir?"

"Permission granted, Lieutenant. Be careful."

"You know when you talk like that, you sound like General Hammond?"

_Click._ Dany smiled at the phone.

"Well?" her uncle asked impatiently.

"I can go," she told him. "Good thing too. Your Spanish is terrible."

_SG-1_

The man who joined them at the bar was small in stature and large in color. Still, Dany had to admit his perspective was a little larger than her uncle's.

"Dany, right?" Burke said. "I remember you from a barbeque. You gave some kid a black eye for whacking you on the bum with a baseball bat. Still that harsh on the guys crushing on you?"

Beside her, Uncle Jack shifted uncomfortably.

"No," she said. "No more black eyes. Now I just shoot 'em."

Burke's face slackened, then he laughed hysterically.

"Some things never change, eh, Jack?"

_SG-1_

Dany hated bugs. She preferred Minnesota. The bugs there were smaller, lighter, and more likely to hide during three quarters of the year.

Uncle Jack offered her half a smile as she slapped her neck for the thousandth time.

"You know," she whispered when Burke was out of earshot, "part of his crazy might be due to this place."

"Ya think?"

"Well, I'd have let the piranhas have me by now."

_SG-1_

"Davis really let you come on this? Why?"

"Honestly? I think he feels sorry for me. Or he likes you. Or both."

"I like him too," Uncle Jack said. "Reliable. Always by the book."

"Mostly," Dany said.

"You know, once I had to tell him to give the kill order because Daniel couldn't?"

"Yeah, I read the report. You know, Uncle Jack? Sometimes the perspective we have…it gets a little convoluted, you know? Too many sides to the same story."

It hadn't been her intention, but her uncle's eyes drifted to Burke.

_SG-1_

Burke put it best: "What's with the guy from _Evil Dead_?"

Never one for horror films, Dany had to watch that one when they got home. Daniel found her as the credits started to roll, settled down beside her as they tapered off to a theme that was meant to leave your spine tingling. Dany had had too many true tingles in her life to fall for that one.

"Little too realistic for me, after the past couple of days," Daniel said.

"Me too," she replied. "Bonfire?"

Fifteen minutes later, they were settled, and Daniel was asking, "Where's Jack?"

"Beer run?" she replied. "He'd better get back soon. I fly back to Washington in the morning."

"I'd say something like, 'back to the grind,' but cliches are more Jack's department," Daniel said. "Besides, that's not exactly how it is for us, is it?"

"No," Dany answered softly, poking at the fire with a marshmallow stick. "'Sometimes the right thing to do is worth doing for its own sake.'"

"What was that?"

"Just something someone said to me once."

**AN: **Special thanks to guest reviewer Adele for her encouragement and consistency.


	13. Affairs in Order

Chapter 13: Affairs in Order

_Set during Season 7, "Lost City" and Season 8, "New Order Parts I & II."_

"Major Davis?"

A brunette stood in his doorframe, a professional type, with a no-nonsense haircut she somehow managed to make look stylish.

He rose, smoothing his dress uniform as he did, and slipped around his desk to take her hand. "Dr. Weir. We've been expecting you."

"I understand you're the person responsible for ensuring the chance of command goes smoothly, if that's even possible."

"We'll do our best, ma'am," Davis said, feeling none of the confidence in the statement. Of all the unpleasant news he'd had to deliver in his lifetime, this felt the most like a betrayal, and he couldn't even be there in person. The Lieutenant would be accompanying Dr. Weir to Colorado.

He explained as much to Dr. Weir, keeping his tones professional, his language neutral. It was a voice and speech pattern he no longer had to think about, so much a part of his demeanor that a friend had recently joked he was nothing but G-Man. The statement wouldn't have bothered Davis, but it had been on the end of an awkward breakup, and he hadn't been interested in hearing more about his faults.

"I do have another file for you." He passed it to Dr. Weir.

"More?" she asked breathlessly. "Does it ever end?"

"Eight years is a lot to catch up on in a weekend, I know. I spend most days reading these, and I still can't keep up. However, this is important, as it's the latest report from General Hammond, the briefing for a mission SG-1 just embarked on."

Dr. Weir nodded, but she was already bent over the file, and Davis wasn't sure how much had truly sunk in.

"It's a rather important gamble they're taking with this one. In fact, it relates back to-"

His phone rang, and a quick glance showed it was the line only the SGC used, installed just so they could get through at any time. He hesitated only a fraction of a second, feeling a sense of relief as he picked up the phone, even though it likely meant an emergency of some kind.

A moment later, his relief changed, and as he looked up from setting the phone down, he caught Weir regarding him with raised brows and an open, almost childlike concern. Not an expression he expected to see on a seasoned mediator, but it only distracted him for a moment.

"Ma'am, if you'll excuse me, I need to find my assistant."

The Lieutenant chose that moment to appear, disinterest plastered on her face. Davis knew she was raging on the inside, all the more so for being unable to warn her friends about the change headed their way. She met his gaze, and the mask slipped.

"Lieutenant O'Neill?" Dr. Weir broke in before he could speak. "Elizabeth Weir. I understand we'll be traveling companions."

The Lieutenant accepted the offered hand, but kept her eyes on Davis.

He cleared his throat. "Actually, those plans have just been changed. I'll be accompanying you to Colorado Springs, just to get you settled in, after which I'll return here. Lieutenant, you're on leave for the weekend. On Monday morning, you can report to Dr. Weir at the SGC and resume your duties. I'll have a plane ready for you in an hour."

"Sir?"

"It seems Colonel O'Neill used one of the Ancient database devices again…They were trying to retrieve the information before Anubis could get to it, and the situation became desperate. They're hoping the colonel will be able to give them something to help defeat Anubis before…before it's too late."

The Lieutenant simply stood there, frozen, until Davis added, "Colonel O'Neill has requested time to get his affairs in order. He's at home. I'll make your arrangements. _Go_."

She nodded and bolted, and he was left to contemplate how, with anyone else, he would have told them to suck it up.

In more professional tones, of course.

"I don't understand," Dr. Weir was saying beside him. He'd forgotten she was in the room. "'Ancient database devices'? What's the problem?"

Davis took a deep breath. "The device essentially rewrites the user's brain. Our human physiology isn't meant to handle it…If they can't contact one of our allies who can help, Colonel O'Neill will die."

_SG-1_

"Uncle Jack?" Dany's entry was dramatic, and the immediate appearance of her uncle leaning casually in their kitchen doorway was enough to set her off afresh.

She searched compulsively about her, spotted the spare keys on the hall table, and threw them at him.

He ducked; the keys just grazing the top of his head. "_Ow_," he said, and straightened, only to be met full in the face with a desk of cards, left out after the last poker game.

"What were you _thinking_?" A baseball followed the deck of cards, striking his shoulder. "You don't nearly _die enough as it is_? You had to go _looking for it_? What? You…you had to be _sure_ this time?"

A pair of gloves were next, a lame choice, reflecting a breakdown in the thrower's resolve. As Dany sought new ammunition, her body convulsed, her voice cracking, and in two strides Uncle Jack was across the hall, holding her up. The shame barely registering, she seized his arms and let herself collapse, sobbing.

The sun had dipped significantly by the time her hiccups subsided, and without speaking, both O'Neills rose to enter the house. They moved with practiced motions, turning on lamps, retrieving beers, gathering fuel, until they were resettled before the fire, the sun just touching the horizon.

"I didn't have time to come up with a better plan," Uncle Jack said. When Dany didn't answer he went on. "I'm leaving you the house. You'll need it when you're here in Colorado Springs. It's all paid, so you'll only have the taxes to worry about. I also contacted Mr. Adams. There's still some of the money your parents left. He'll make sure what I've got is added to it."

"I don't need to be taken care of," she snapped.

"I know you don't, but I'm doing it anyway." He looked at her. "Dany, you're all I've got."

She glared back, and the irony wasn't lost on him. He reached over to squeeze her hand. "I'm _sorry_, alright? I didn't know what else to do. This job…you know how it is. You knew what you were signing up for. You knew it might mean this."

_All O'Neill cards in one damned basket_, she thought, turning way. Her beer was gone. She wanted another, but that involved getting up, and she couldn't bring herself to do that just yet.

"Have you talked to Aunt Sara?" she asked, hoping it hurt, and from the way he recoiled, it did.

He got up, returned with a cooler, which was a remarkable display of practicality from a man she considered a moron at just that moment. He passed her a fresh Guinness, then went on as if she hadn't just reverted to a nasty, malicious brat.

"If you need anything, go to Daniel or Sam. Hammond'll help too where he can, I'm sure. _Dany_."

She met his eyes, because she knew whatever he said next was more important than her fury.

"You're going to be fine."

She looked away, because it was a stupid thing for a dying man to tell her.

_SG-1_

It wasn't just Dany's life that turned upside down that week. Next came the mad rush to save the world, again. Dany moved through it with practiced grace and cold detachment. She wasn't sure she cared much for the world in that moment. Dan was gone, Uncle Jack was going, and all the others that had ever mattered to her were now so far removed from her mad life she couldn't feel them anymore.

She called a major named Mitchell to inform him he was in charge of the defense of Antarctica, and wondered later how, from her indifferent words, he had understood the import of the situation well enough to get himself nearly killed.

Some people had faith in the right thing, she decided, and felt with a pang that maybe she could never really be like that.

Almost immediately on the heels of that disaster was another, and a Goa'uld summit, and wonderously quickly, her uncle was standing in the door to her office, good as new.

Or, at least as good as Jack O'Neill was likely to get.

She threw a notebook at him.


	14. Change of Command

Chapter 14: Change of Command

_Season in Season 8, during "Lockdown," "Zero Hour," and a little after._

"What about Dany?"

"What _about_ Dany?

Daniel expressly avoided rolling his eyes for the _eighth_ time during that conversation. "Well, with the Stargate Program now run by a department in Washington, I understand Major Davis will be on base a lot more often, and that General Hammond wants him heading up negotiations with our offworld allies…Do we really need_ two_ liaison officers on base?"

O'Neill's head went up a bit as he considered this. "You think Dany should join SG-1?"

"Well, why not?" Daniel flipped his pen around once. "She knows as much about the SGC as anyone, and I imagine after two and a half years in Washington, she's probably itching for something a little more…active."

"To be honest, considering her character, I am surprised she has lasted this long," Teal'c put in.

"Right," said Daniel.

"Carter, what do you think?" O'Neill asked. "It's your command."

Carter frowned. "Well, I'd trust her with the position as much as anyone. I think she'd make a valuable asset to the team."

"There ya go," said O'Neill. "Problem solved. Thank you."

"Who gets to tell her?" Daniel asked.

_SG-1_

"Sir."

Davis set his briefcase down on Dany's desk. "Lieutenant. How are things under the new command?"

"Ahh…Slow. We're…still figuring things out."

"So I hear."

He stared at her a moment, and as it dragged on Dany knew there was more. "What?"

"You've been reassigned. I'm almost sorry."

"Sir?"

Davis smiled at her, a rare thing, one she noticed only when he was truly excited or amused. "Congratulations. You're now the fourth member of SG-1."

"_Sir?_"

"It seems fitting," he continued, picking up his suitcase, "that there always be an O'Neill on the SGC's flagship team."

"Sir?"

He laughed. "I'm completely serious, Lieutenant. You've earned the post. And I'm proud of you."

"Thank you…sir."

He turned to go.

"Wait…What are _you_ doing?"

Davis turned back. "At the moment? I have a treaty to negotiate. Seems the locals on this particular planet don't get along, but we'll need the cooperation of both sides in order to establish lasting relations. I get to bring representatives from both sides back." He sighed. "It'll likely be a long few days of squabbling over petty differences."

"Well, you have no previous experience with _that._"

_SG-1_

"I supposed I should have thought of it sooner," Carter told her later, "but I just assumed you were happy where you were."

"I was…oddly," Dany said. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the opportunity. I did join the Air Force with the aim of going offworld, and it'll give me more of a chance to find Dan, I think, but…I guess a lot of what I ended up doing as a liaison officer wasn't all that different from what I set out to do, what I would have done if I hadn't joined the military."

"I know what you mean," Carter said. "We encountered a version of myself from an alternate reality a while back, and she had never joined the Air Force, but she was still an influential scientist. The decision seems perfectly reasonable from my perspective. I can't imagine what my life would be like if I hadn't made it, but still, I would be doing almost exactly what I'm doing now if I hadn't."

"I can think of _one thing_ you'd be doing differently if you hadn't joined the military," Dany pointed out.

Sam blushed.

_SG-1_

It was Daniel who slapped the SG-1 patch on her uniform before they left on their first mission. Granted, O'Neill hadn't counted on nearly losing her to Ba'al, or at least thinking he'd nearly lost her to Ba'al. Then again, Davis hadn't either, and when O'Neill confronted him about his willingness to sacrifice their offworld allies for four of their own people, Davis spat out the usual spiel about not leaving people behind.

"_And?_" O'Neill waited.

"And…she's been through a lot, more than anyone I've ever met. And in spite of all that, or because of it, she's still one of the toughest people I've ever known. And even though she's no longer under my command, I still feel responsible for her."

"Enough to kill thousands of people for a _fraction_ of a chance to bring her home?"

"Yes, sir."

It wasn't lost on O'Neill that Davis wouldn't look at him.

"Major, on a professional level, I shouldn't need to remind you that that's not how we do things around here."

"Yes, sir…And on an unprofessional level?"

"I'm worried too."

_SG-1_

She walked back through the gate, of course, without so much as a scratch.

"Good thing I'm not claustrophobic," she told O'Neill.

"My fears are a little more basic," he shot back. "Infirmary. Then beer."


	15. If You'll Be My Bodyguard

Chapter 15: If You'll Be My Bodyguard…

_Set in Season 8, "Threads."_

Dany scrubbed at her face vigorously. The hot water felt good, when little else did. She kept repeating to herself what her uncle had said.

"He's not dead, no way."

And the words felt right, even if there was no evidence to back them up. Then again, maybe Daniel himself was the evidence. All signs pointed to his inability to die. Well, not for long, anyway.

She scrubbed the rest of herself, then shut the water off with a puff of steam from her lips. Showers were a luxury, especially in the O'Neill household, when both members were expected to be up and mobile at a moment's notice. Today especially, she was rushed. Her uncle may have been discreet about his guest, but that didn't mean Dany had any wish to see her.

_SG-1_

Her uncle was only half an hour behind her. They met in the briefing room, with Major Davis, who looked strange in his fatigues.

"I figure with Daniel missing, Teal'c on Dakara, and Carter in the midst of wedding plans, you might want something to do," Uncle Jack explained. "Davis here is headed to Dakara to help the Jaffa with their reconstruction plans."

Dany raised an eyebrow at her old boss. "Kind of a long gig, sir."

"We'll manage, Lieutenant."

"'We'?"

'I'm sending you with Davis," Uncle Jack explained. "By now, you know the Jaffa a little better than he does."

"It'll be a lot of pandering anyway," Davis added. "They're still celebrating their victory."

"Big Jaffa party." Uncle Jack smiled.

Dany raised her eyebrows at Major Davis. "Hope you like moonshine, sir."

_SG-1_

"How's the new job?"

Davis was two or three drinks in, and Dany wasn't far ahead. The celebration that raged around them was Spartan, but not lacking in intensity. It would take more than the traditional brew to make the USAF officers feel at home, however. They had found a corner - an entire room, really – for themselves and brought a bottle to keep them company. It was as much of a vacation as either had had in a year, and without saying a word, they had agreed to enjoy it.

Dany shifted down off the bedroll she'd been using as a seat, stretching one leg lazily out in front of her. "Different. I like it. Being in the field. It's easier to look at what Daniel calls 'the big picture.'" She paused, then, "Almost makes me wish I'd gone with the Atlantis expedition."

"Your uncle would never have let you go." Davis hiccupped.

Grinning, Dany agreed.

"Are you sure that's accurate?" Davis asked, shifting in his seat above her. "I sometimes feel the SG teams lose sight of their mission. Their loyalties get compromised. When people join the military, we drill their responsibilities into them. Only all their training seems to go out the window the minute they go through that gate."

"Less about serving our country, more about personal loyalties and the big picture?"

"Exactly."

Dany moved so she could lean on her elbows, shaking her head. "With all due respect, sir, you've got it wrong. The personal loyalties of the SG teams aren't its weakness, they're its strength. They're what moves and drives us in a universe so vast, we've become insignificant in its grander scheme, despite our many achievements since venturing out into it. Look around you. If it weren't for SG-1's relationship with Teal'c, everything you see might never have been accomplished, and you and I might not be sitting here. Don't take personal loyalties for granted. They're all we've got in the end."

"Hence the military, and in particular the SGC's motto, 'Leave no man behind'?"

She reached for the booze bowl and drained it. "Yes, well, that one's not always true, is it?"

Softly, but not without force, a hand squeezed her shoulder. "You'll find him eventually. I know you will."

"I didn't just mean him," she replied.

_SG-1_

Their tiredness set them up. The seclusion secured them. The moonshine did them in. Neither heard the invasion of Anubis's forces, and such was their choice of sleeping quarters, they went unnoticed by the greater number of Jaffa. When Davis woke, it was to find a single enemy figure in front of him.

The young man was tall, with brown hair and piercing eyes. Even without the file, Davis would have recognized him.

"D-_Dany!_" he hissed through his hangover, and the lieutenant, her head pillowed on his stomach, woke abruptly.

Both shot to their feet, but not quickly enough. Lieutenant Dan O'Neill – or the Goa'uld who possessed him – raised his hand, and the air rippled around him. Dany was flung across the room. Her body struck the wall of the pyramid, then dropped, lifeless, to the floor.

Davis had no time to register the fate of his former assistant. As he turned back to Dan, he felt himself caught, paralyzed. The world in front of him blurred, and everything seemed to be melting in a whirling, chaotic pain. Blindly he reached in front of him, caught the wrist of his young assailant, but there was nothing he could do. The Goa'uld hand devices allowed for no escape so long as that Goa'uld remained focused on their victim.

Then, abruptly, the pain was gone. The figure in front of him collapsed even as it came into focus. Davis reached for his head, rubbing just above his eyes, then turned, with an effort, to the side.

Dany was on her knees, right arm stretched out in front of her. Smoke came from her sidearm, held steady and sure. Then she crumpled.

Davis ignored Dan's body and moved, with urgency, to the Lieutenant. He gathered her in his arms, stood with difficulty, and in the chaos that was the battle of Dakara, carried her from the pyramid.

_SG-1_

"Unscheduled offworld activation!"

"_Now_ what?" O'Neill barked.

"It's Major Davis's IDC, sir," Walter told him.

"Open it," O'Neill commanded.

"That didn't take long," observed Carter.

"Yeah…"

The iris opened, and a moment later, Davis stumbled out. Dany hung limply in his arms.

"_I need a medic!_"

_SG-1_

The first thing O'Neill saw when he entered the infirmary was his niece, stretched out and still unconscious, on the hospital bed. Standard military issue hospital bed. Probably one he'd used himself. Dany had never needed it though. Not even after her first mission, when the Tok'ra base had been destroyed, and she'd lost her brother. At least, when she thought she'd lost him.

By her knees, head pillowed in his arms, was Major Davis. He might have been asleep, having been thoroughly abused himself, from what the doctors had told O'Neill, or it might have been that he'd been sitting there for a day and a half, which the doctors had also told O'Neill.

"Davis."

The younger man sat up, blinking. "Sir?"

"Go get some rest."

Davis leaned back in his chair. "No, thank you, sir."

"No?"

Davis wouldn't meet O'Neill's eyes. He remained focused on Dany. "The doctor's say she doesn't want to wake up."

"It wasn't your fault, Major."

Davis looked up at him.

"Get some sleep. That's an order." After a moment's hesitation, O'Neill added. "I'll sit with her for a while."

"Yes, sir."

O'Neill took Davis's chair, noting with a grimace that it was warm. The infirmary was more or less locked down for the night, a skeleton staff all that remained in the wake of Jacob's death. All told, one sad tale was a good day for the SGC.

He took his niece's hand, wrapped it securely in his own. When he spoke, he was surprised to hear the cracking in his own voice.

"Hey. Dany…Davis has a point, and the doctors told me the same thing. Maybe prove them all wrong, eh?...I guess I can understand why you wouldn't want to wake up. I should, of all people. But Dany, what happened wasn't your fault, and even if it was…you did the right thing."

She lay there, pale and bruised. Her lips were almost blue, her eyes slightly pinched even in sleep, and O'Neill had the impression she was fighting to stay _unconscious_.

"See, the thing is, we need you here. _I_ need you here. These past couple of years, it's just been you and I, and I've kind of gotten used to having you around. I can't imagine…Ah, you know I'm bad at this."

He squeezed her hand, but it remained motionless, cold. And then, because there was nothing for it, he continued.

"I think Davis has feelings for you. Might want to be careful there."

"Look who's talking."

It was barely more than a whisper, and the eyes, when they opened, were slow, diffident. When she finally looked at him, her face and voice splintered. "Uncle Jack?"

O'Neill stroked her hand. "It wasn't your fault, Dany. It wasn't your fault."

_SG-1_

"Are you sure you're okay on your own?"

Dany's smile as she answered was a facade. Her face was still pale, the cheekbones sharper than usual, and O'Neill noted with regret that he couldn't say when she'd last eaten.

"Yes, I'm fine. Go do this. I have…some stuff to go through."

He knew what that meant. The boxes in the basement. Closure? He couldn't say, but he left her standing there in her pajama shorts, with a fridge full of beer and a heart full of regrets. He'd be gone all night, should things go well. He and Carter had a lot to talk about.

_SG-1_

Dany pulled the boxes from the basement one by one, sorting their contents on the dining room table. Pictures, baseball gloves, report cards, Christmas cards…all pieces of a childhood prematurely left behind. She wondered, as she clawed her way back through the years, what ordinary woman of twenty-five did with their time. Certainly not fight aliens. Certainly not murder their own brothers.

The thought was overwhelming, and she sought out another beer to dull it. Two beers, one hour, and a multitude of unpleasant thoughts later, there was a knock at the door.

She answered it with a little wrinkle of her brow. It was Major Davis, and without a word spoken by either, she stood aside to let him in. It wasn't until both were safely in the light of the dining room that she realized she was wearing her PJs.

"Sir?"

"Lieutenant, I can imagine a number of reasons why I'm the last person you want to see right now, but I just wanted to say-"

She stopped him, because she had to. "Not your fault, sir."

"All the same, I-"

She cut him off again. "I don't blame you. It was my decision, and, given the chance to do it all over again, I wouldn't do any differently. My guilt…it has nothing to do with you."

Davis's voice broke when he spoke again. "Then, as your friend, allow me to say how sorry I am."

Dany nodded. "Sir...This sort of conversation makes me uncomfortable. Can I get you a beer?"

He laughed softly. "One moment." He took a step towards her and, almost awkwardly, pulled her into an embrace. She wrapped her arms around him and held him in equal measure.

Two more beers were fetched, and they spent the rest of the night packing up Dan's memories.


End file.
